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Dola BANERJEE (IND): the new Indian Star!
January 2008
There is an archery club beside our house in India—Baranagar Archery Club. I used to go there in the afternoon for physical fitness and to refresh mind. One day, the coach of the club, thinking that my body posture was suitable for archery, asked my father to put me in archery lessons. This is how I started archery at the age of 9. At first, I felt it was really difficult and boring. As I improved, I became more interested. I got my first medal at a regional competition, later on in the state championship, and then I got a national 3rd place. My performance kept getting better and, at the age of 16, I competed for the first time internationally at the Youth World Championship San Diego 1996.
Over the years, my best results were: an individual first place at the Antalya European Grand Prix in 2005; and recently, my gold medals at the Dover World Cup and the Dubai World Cup Final in 2007.
The Dubai Final is the greatest experience I ever had in my whole archery life! At first, shooting over the water made me a little nervous, but after the first day I became used to it. I never thought I would win the title in Dubai, but I was confident that I could shoot well. After reaching the gold medal final, I thought I had a chance, but it came down to the very last arrow of the match. In fact, I thought I might lose the match on the last arrow— my opponent, Choy Eun Young needed a 10 to win. When the announcer said that she had shot an 8 and that I had won the title, I felt like I was on top of the world!
After returning to India, I was astonished to see the crowd outside the Kolkata Airport in my home town. I never thought that so many people knew about archery in our country or that so many people were interested and knew that I had won the World Cup Final. This is the happiest thing I have ever experienced. All the media and TV news channels were there. Of course, after my victory in Dover, many people started to learn about archery and me. In India, 90% of our population knows cricket, but now, they also know archery! It is great that our sport is becoming so well known. Since my win, some important organizations and people have invited me to functions to celebrate my World Cup Final victory. However, they all expect that I will now win a medal at the Olympic Games. This, I can only wish for—it would be a dream come true…
Dola Banerjee
There is an archery club beside our house in India—Baranagar Archery Club. I used to go there in the afternoon for physical fitness and to refresh mind. One day, the coach of the club, thinking that my body posture was suitable for archery, asked my father to put me in archery lessons. This is how I started archery at the age of 9. At first, I felt it was really difficult and boring. As I improved, I became more interested. I got my first medal at a regional competition, later on in the state championship, and then I got a national 3rd place. My performance kept getting better and, at the age of 16, I competed for the first time internationally at the Youth World Championship San Diego 1996.
Over the years, my best results were: an individual first place at the Antalya European Grand Prix in 2005; and recently, my gold medals at the Dover World Cup and the Dubai World Cup Final in 2007.
The Dubai Final is the greatest experience I ever had in my whole archery life! At first, shooting over the water made me a little nervous, but after the first day I became used to it. I never thought I would win the title in Dubai, but I was confident that I could shoot well. After reaching the gold medal final, I thought I had a chance, but it came down to the very last arrow of the match. In fact, I thought I might lose the match on the last arrow— my opponent, Choy Eun Young needed a 10 to win. When the announcer said that she had shot an 8 and that I had won the title, I felt like I was on top of the world!
After returning to India, I was astonished to see the crowd outside the Kolkata Airport in my home town. I never thought that so many people knew about archery in our country or that so many people were interested and knew that I had won the World Cup Final. This is the happiest thing I have ever experienced. All the media and TV news channels were there. Of course, after my victory in Dover, many people started to learn about archery and me. In India, 90% of our population knows cricket, but now, they also know archery! It is great that our sport is becoming so well known. Since my win, some important organizations and people have invited me to functions to celebrate my World Cup Final victory. However, they all expect that I will now win a medal at the Olympic Games. This, I can only wish for—it would be a dream come true…
Dola Banerjee
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