Indian archery’s Elder Sister

When she shot her first arrow at the Baranagar Archery Club close to her house, there were not many women in the sport, forget icons. Seventeen years later, Dola Banerjee is an icon herself - an idol to the recent trickle of young girls in archery and to her teammates who fondly refer to her as Dola didi.

Calm, level-headed, a lazy gait that borders on self-belief and actually induces a sense of assurance among her teammates even when the chips are down, Dola is literally an 'elder sister' in Indian archery.
Immediately after claiming the gold medal in the World Cup final at Dubai’s Medinat Amphitheatre on Saturday, an ecstatic Dola Banerjee had said: “Let’s see what sort of welcome I get back home…”
Well, to cut a long story short, the ace archer received a reception on Sunday at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport that is normally reserved for the Sachin Tendulkars. And it left the Calcutta-based girl starry eyed and slightly stunned.
Before being flooded by hordes of reporters and photographers, all a visibly tired Dola managed to say was, “It was very, very, tough…” It took much cajoling and a lot more chaos before she finally settled down to take a few more questions.

Dola, who defeated world No.1 Natalya Erdyniyeva of Russia in the semi-final en route to her career-best achievement so far, said it was her toughest battle in the competition
"I never thought I would be able to beat Choi (Eun Young) in the final. I shot with a free mind having assured India of a silver medal. Probably the pressure got on to her in the end. I was under pressure in the semi-final against the Russian (Natalya Erdyniyeva). I badly wanted to win and secure a medal first. So to me winning the semi-final was tougher."

Ever since the 27-year-old started representing the country when she was 16, Dola has seen a host of new faces. Some have even left archery, but she fights on - single-handedly braving every odd, financial constraint, a dearth of good infrastructure and even lack of proper incentives and recognition from the federation or the government.

A host of firsts have already been associated with her. An individual gold medal in the European GP in Antalya, Turkey, in 2005, gold in the fourth leg of the World Cup in Dover in July this year, a stunning victory over former world and Olympic champion Yu Min Jin of Korea at the first leg of the World Cup earlier this year in Ulsan, Korea, a second successive quota place for the India women's team at the Olympics, the first woman archer to win the Arjuna Award and as many as five national records - Dola is also the first archer to be employed by Indian Railways which opened recruitments for archers last year.

"It's a huge responsibility," Dola says: "There is a lot of pressure on me and seniors like Chekrovolu Swuro and Reena Kumari. If we do well, it becomes a shade easier for the girls who follow us and take up archery. So it's a constant battle, within and for the next generation," she says.

And talking of the next generation, for Dola it begins at home. Brother Rahul, who followed her to the club and then to the Tata Archery Academy in Jamshedpur, is already the best male archer going by current form even though he lost the Olympic qualification meet semi-final to Mangal Singh Champia in Xian, China, in September.
Right now though, the 27-year-old’s eyes are fixed on the Holy Grail — an Olympic medal. But she isn’t in too much of a hurry.

“Olympics is the obvious target… But I am not thinking of it right now… I will start practising in Jamshedpur three-four days from now. It’s not until January that the selection trials will start. That will be the time to get down to serious business,” said Dola, who’s all but sure of gaining an Olympic berth.

Her parents Ashok (a businessman), and Kalpana (a homemaker), are on top of the world. "What started as an endeavour to make her step out of the house as a child has brought the world inside our home," says Ashok. "I always wanted Dola to be a singer. But I have no complains now," says Kalpana, who is the sister of Manas Mukherjee, singer Shaan and Sagarika's father.
Dola's career

Gold:World Cup final in Dubai’s Medinat Amphitheatre, November 2007

Gold: European Grand Prix in Antalya, Turkey, in 2005
Gold: fourth leg of the Dover World Cup in July, 2007
13th: Athens Olympics, 2004
Qualified for Beijing Olympics
13th: World Championships in Beijing, 2001
15th: World Championships in Madrid, 2005 (team finished 4th)
7th: Asian Games in Busan, 2002
4th: Asian Games in Doha, 2006
Gold (individual and team): SAF Games, Colombo 2006
National records 5
National champion 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007

Junior national champion 1994, 95, 96, 97