Dipti Kumari, who became the new women individual national archery champion, had more reasons than one to be happy.
The girl, who will be 20 by the end of this year, not only became individual national champion at the 40th NTPC national archery championship that concluded in Jamshedpur on Saturday but also brought a recognition to the Birsa Munda Archery Centre, Jonah, a day boarding centre meant for imparting training to aspiring archers, that never had such a credit before.
People who know Jonah for its majestic waterfall that draws huge number of tourists will now also come to know about the archery training centre that produced a national champion.
“It’s a happy moment for all of us as the girl who had struggled a lot finally got the recognition she deserved,” said Rohit Koiri, the coach attached to that centre that found Dipti had potential and trained her since 2013.
“It’s not the only laurel she won,” Koiri further said while speaking to this paper and added Dipti had bagged 2 gold medals and a silver in Cuttack in 2019 and was also a member of the gold winning team in the junior national championship in Uttarakhand earlier.
“But Dipti had to struggle a lot,” he further said, adding she did not have a bow of her own and the centre, with its limited resources couldn’t help much.
Buying her a bow was also beyond the capacity of her father, Kainath Mahto, who drives a pick-up van for a living, he added.
Finally, after learning that Dipti was a very promising archer, Sudesh Mahto, Ajsu party chief and former deputy chief minister, donated her a good bow and required accessories in 2019, he informed.
Though the bow helped her a lot, she couldn’t get over problems as she completed 18 years by the end of 2019 and became ineligible for the monthly stipend of Rs 500 that she would get as a trainee, Koiri informed.
“I sometime even didn’t have the money to pay for an auto rickshaw to reach the training centre,” said Dipti who hails from Jonah village, a few kms away from the centre and added the new bow she got, however, helped her improve her archery skill.
“Meanwhile, she also got a job with the Indo Tibetan Borader Police and that actually helped the family a lot,” Koiri further informed.
“Yes, that’s true,” Dipti replied in the affirmative, adding she joined ITBP as a constable about five months ago and was now undergoing training in Haryana.
“I hope so,” Dipti sounded positive when pointed out that her younger sister who also aspires to become an archer and undergoes training at the same centre wouldn’t face the same financial crisis as she did.