Dharmendra Tiwary was a highly satisfied man on finally becoming a Dronacharya awardee, the third archery coach from Jamshedpur to be bestowed with the honour.
Tiwary, the chief coach at Tata Archery Academy, was at the Sports Authority of India office of Salt Lake, Calcutta on Thursday to attend the virtual award ceremony on the occasion of National Sports Day. The ceremony was streamed live from New Delhi in the presence of President Ram Nath Govind who watched the awardees from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The awards ceremony coincides with the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
The highly experienced trainer has been honoured with the Dronacharya award (lifetime category) 2020 for playing a key role in producing top-notch archers like Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das and Jayanta Talukdar, all Olympians and graduates of Tata Archery Academy (TAA). He has received the certificate and will get the bronze statuette of Dronacharya and cash prize of Rs 10 lakh later.
“Aakhir 26 varsho ki meri mehnat rang layee ( After all, 26 years of my hard work has paid off),” Tiwary told The Telegraph Online on phone from Calcutta.
The 47-year-old thanked his parents, wife, Tata Steel, state sports department, Jharkhand Archery Association, Archery Association of India and Sports Authority of India for the support extended to his career as a mentor.
Tiwary, who joined the Tata archery cradle as assistant coach in 1998, has represented undivided Bihar as an archer from 1985 to 1993. He was recommended for the Dronacharya by his employers Tata Steel and the state government.
He is into coaching for over two decades now and was also one of the mentors of the national side in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tiwary has accompanied Indian archery outfits for international competitions on more than one occasion.
Former Tata Steel sports wing chief and Olympian Sanjeeva Singh and ex-national archery champion and now a mentor at Tata archery cradle Purnima Mahto are the other sports personalities from Jamshedpur who have been conferred with Dronacharya award.
Archery Association of India (AAI) president Arjun Munda, his wife and Seraikela-Kharsawan District Archery Association president Meera Munda, secretary Sumanta Chandra Mohanty and coaches have congratulated Tiwary for the honour.
“Tiwary richly deserved the Dronacharya award. He has produced several international archers, including Deepika, Atanu Das and Jayanta Talukdar to name a few,” said Mohanty, also joint secretary of the AAI.
A soft-spoken man who believes in keeping to his work, Tiwary has been instrumental in helping Deepika overcome bouts of nervousness during her stay in Jamshedpur. The highly experienced mentor has been a guide to the celebrity archer and an ex-cadet of the Tata cradle.
Nervousness affected Deepika’s performance in the beginning but she regained her confidence and composure after working with Tiwary who put her into yoga and meditation.
