Bombayla Devi Laishram (born 22 February 1985) is an Indian former

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

. A member of the national recurve team representing India at the international events for a decade-and-a-half starting 2007, she has won a silver medal at the

World Archery Championships The World Archery Championships are a series of competitions in Archery organised by the World Archery Federation. The first competition held under that title took place in 1931. Competition archery takes a wide variety of formats, but the titl ...

, and four gold, five silver, and four bronze medals at various editions of the

Archery World Cup The Archery World Cup is a competition organized by World Archery, where the archers compete in four stages in four countries and the best eight archers of each category (from 2010, four archers during 2006–09) advance to an additional stage to ...

. Laishram peaked at no. 14 in the world rankings in March 2009. Born in

Imphal East Imphal East district ( Meitei pronunciation: /ˈɪmfəl or ɪmˈfɑːl/) is one of the 16 districts of Manipur state in northeastern India. In 2011, it was the second most populous district in the state, after Imphal West. In 2016, the Jiribam s ...

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

, Laishram began playing archery at the age of 11 and joined the

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India, SAI, was set up in 1984 to carry forward the legacy of the 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi under the Department of Sports. SAl has been entrusted with promoting sport in India and achieving sporting excellen ...

under the guidance of her father. Having participated at the national level since 1997, she made her international debut in 2007. Laishram played as a regular member of the recurve team that represented India at the international circuit, winning gold medals at the 2011 Shanghai, and the 2013 Medellin, and the Wroclaw World Cup stages. She won her first international individual medal, a bronze at the

Asian Archery Championships Asian Archery Championships is the archery championship organized by the World Archery Asia. It has been held biannually, and since 2001 has included both the recurve and compound disciplines. The tournament began in 1980 and it was first hos ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. Laishram has represented

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

at the Olympics on three occasions, reaching the pre-quarterfinals twice. She has also won medals at other multi-sporting events, including a gold at the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

and a bronze at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

. Laishram was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

in 2012 and the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 2019 by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

for her contributions to sports.

Early life

Laishram was born on 22 February 1985, in Manipur to M. Jamini Devi, a local archery coach and Manglem Singh, the state coach for Manipur’s handball team. She started archery at the age of 11, and later joined the

and started training there. Laishram revealed in an interview that she started archery following her family's tradition in the sport. She currently resides in

Imphal Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a ...

, Manipur.

Career

Breakthrough and career-high ranking (2007–2009)

Laishram's breakthrough came in 2007, when she wonas a part of the women's recurve teamthe bronze medal at the 2007 Asian Archery Championships. She made her debut at the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. She was seeded no. 11 after the qualifications rounds, with a total score of 1313; the Indian team consisting of her,

Dola Banerjee Dola Banerjee (; born 2 June 1980) is an Indian sportswoman who competes in archery. Early life Dola Banerjee is daughter of Ashok Banerjee and Kalpana Banerjee. She was born in Baranagar near Kolkata. She studied in Baranagar Rajkumari Memori ...

, and Chekrovolu Swuro were had the highest collective score. Laishram lost in the second round of the individual discipline, but reached the semifinals in the team event. India lost to Italy, but defeated Poland to win the bronze medal. Laishram represented India at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in the women's individual as well as team events. She, along with Banerjee and

Pranitha Vardhineni Pranitha Vardhineni is an Indian Recurve bow, Recurve archery, Archer. Early years Pranitha Vardhineni was introduced to archery during her school years at thRural Development Foundations Kalleda Rural School in Warangal District, Telangana St ...

was ranked sixth in the team event qualifiers. They got a bye in the round of 16, but lost to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

by 206–211 in the quarterfinals. In the individual event, she was ranked 22nd in the qualifiers, but lost to

Iwona Marcinkiewicz Iwona Marcinkiewicz (; born Iwona Dzięcioł, 23 May 1975 in Warsaw) is an athlete from Poland. She competes in archery. Marcinkiewicz represented Poland at the 1996 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics. For her ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in the round of 64 in a keenly contested match 101–103. Laishram reached her career high ranking of no. 14 in 2009, having won another bronze medal at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, earlier in the year.

World Cup and Commonwealth golds (2011–15)

Laishram was a part of the recurve team that represented India at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

; she, Banerjee, and

Deepika Kumari Deepika Kumari (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian professional archer who competes in the recurve category. A four-time Olympian and two-time World Archery Championships silver medallist, Deepika is one of the most decorated Indian archer and th ...

won the Gold medal defeating England in the final. Beginning 2011, Laishram won a medal at every

until 2016; the run included the gold medal at the 2011 Shanghai World Cup, where the Indian recurve team beat Italy in the final. The Indian team was the no. 1 seed in the tournament, as they had finished at the top in the qualifications stage. Laishram, herself, was placed at no. 8 in the individual qualification round. She lost in the second of the knock-out stages to Mexico's Avitia Mariana in a shootout. Earlier in 2011, Laishram had won the bronze and silver medals in the recurve team event at the Second (held at

Antalya, Turkey Antalya is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anato ...

) and Third (held at

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

) stages of the World Cup respectively. At the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, she bowed out in the second round of the women’s individual recurve event losing 2–6 to Mexico’s

Aída Román Aída Nabila Román Arroyo (born May 21, 1988) is a Mexican archer. A three-time Olympian, she won silver medal in the women's individual event at the 2012 Summer Olympics and was the women's World Indoor Archery Champion in 2014. She has addi ...

on 30 July 2012. In the team event, India lost in the first round 211–210 to Denmark. Laishram won her first individual medal in November 2013 at the

, finishing in the third place.

Rio Olympics and beyond (2016–present)

Laishram was the part of the team that qualified for

2016 Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. The Indian women's recursive team, consisting of Laishram, Kumari and

Laxmirani Majhi Laxmirani Majhi (born 26 January 1989) is an Indian female right handed recurve archer. Early life Laxmi is from the Santhal tribe; she grew up in Bagula village in East Singhbhum district, Jharkhand. Her first chance to become an archer wa ...

, finished 7th in the ranking round. The team won their match against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

in the round of 16 before losing the quarterfinal match against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Bombayla Devi Laishram faced

Laurence Baldauff Laurence Baldauff (born 19 November 1974) is a Luxembourgish recurve archer who represented Austria at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Career Baldauff began practising archery at the age of sixteen while attending a sports camp. She made her interna ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in the Women's Individual Round of 64 encounter in the 2016 Olympics, she won the match 6–2 and progressed to the next round. In the Round of 32, Bombayla Devi faced

Lin Shih-chia Lin Shih-chia ( zh, c=林詩嘉, p=Lín Shījiā; born 20 May 1993) is a Taiwanese competitive archer. She has won a career total of four medals (one gold, two silver, and one bronze) in a major international competition, spanning the Summer Univ ...

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

. She won the match 6–2 and advanced to the Round of 16. However, she was not able to get past

Alejandra Valencia Alejandra Valencia Trujillo (born 17 October 1994) is a Mexican archer. Career She won two gold medals the 2011 Pan American Games — women's team and women's individual. She won bronze at 2011 World Archery Youth Championships recurve cadet ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in the round of 16 and she lost with a score of 2 against 6.

Awards and recognition

In 2012, the

awarded Laishram with the

, India's second highest sporting honour. She was later awarded the fourth highest national civilian honour, the

in 2019.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laishram, Bombayla Living people 1985 births Indian female archers Olympic archers for India Archers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Archers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Sportswomen from Manipur Recipients of the Arjuna Award People from Imphal East district Archers at the 2010 Asian Games Archers at the 2014 Asian Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in archery 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Asian Games bronze medalists for India Asian Games medalists in archery Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games