Dola Banerjee (; born 2 June 1980) is an Indian sportswoman who competes in

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

Early life

Dola Banerjee is daughter of Ashok Banerjee and Kalpana Banerjee. She was born in

Baranagar Baranagar (Bengali language, Bengali: বরানগর) is a city and a municipality in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area ...

near

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. She studied in Baranagar Rajkumari Memorial Girls High School. At the age of eight, she joined Baranagar Archery Club. Her first international appearance was in Youth World Championship in San Diego in 1996

Career

Dola Banerjee started archery at the Baranagar Archery Club in 1990 when she was barely 9 years of age. She represented at 16 at the Youth World Championship, San Diego in 1996. Since then she has been a regular member of the Indian women's archery team. Dola Banerjee represented India at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. She was placed 13th in the women's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 642. In the first round of elimination, she faced 52nd-ranked Kirstin Jean Lewis of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Dola fell victim to an upset, losing 141–131 in the 18-arrow match, placing 52nd overall in women's individual archery. Dola was also a member of the 8th-place Indian women's archery team. During her 20 years in international Archery she has represented the country at more than 50 competitions including 2 Olympic Games, 3 Asian Games, 4 World Championship, 4 Asian Championship, 11 World Cups, 3 European Grand Prix, 10 Asian Grand Prix, 2 SAF Games, 1 Commonwealth Games and many others. She has won more than 16 Gold, 3 Silver and 8 Bronze medals for the country. Dola Banerjee won the second international gold medal of her career when she won the individual recurve title of the fourth leg of the Meteksan World Cup archery at Dover (England) in August 2007. Having won the fourth leg, she qualified for the world cup final held at Dubai in November 2007 where the winners of the four legs competed. Dola Banerjee became world champion in archery by winning the gold medal in the women's individual recurve competition at the archery world cup held at Dubai, in November 2007

Dola Banerjee is the second woman archer to be honored with 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 ...

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 ...

in 2005.Idol Dola becomes an icon- Hindustan Times
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Contribution at National Level

At the National Level she has won more than 52 gold, 21 silver and eight bronze medals. Her absolute dominance at the Junior National Level during the five years that she played at that level is clear as she won a medal in all categories by winning 19 gold, five silver and six bronze medals. She won 30 medals out of a possibility of 30 medals. Dola Banerjee was honored by the Indian Government when she was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2005 for her excellent contribution to Archery. She was a Member in the Sports Development body of the West Bengal Government since July 2011 and playing a key role in development of sports in her state. Banerjee was also a member of the Steering Committee for Youth Affairs and Sports for the Twelfth Five Year Plan. She is also actively involved with Baranagar Archery Club, her local club where she started her career, for the development of the sport. Presently she is employed with the Eastern Railways. She has been also part of the Railways Sports Promotion Board contingent, traveling to the London Olympics 2012 and Rio Olympics 2016.

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics

Dola represented India in the women's individual as well as team events 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 ...

, but failed to reach the finals in both events. She teamed up with

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 ...

and

Bombayala Devi Bombayla Devi Laishram (born 22 February 1985) is an Indian former archer. 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 Arc ...

in the team event. They were ranked sixth in the 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 31st, and lost to

Marie-Pier Beaudet Marie-Pier Beaudet (born December 12, 1986) is a former Canadian archer who competed at three Summer Olympic Games between 2004 and 2012. Beaudet made her international debut in 2002, and in addition to the Olympic Games has contested the Pan Am ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

by 8–10 in the tie break, after scoring 108–108 in the full set of arrows.

2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games 2010 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 of Nations, Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, she won the gold medal in women's team recurve with

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 ...

and L Bombayala Devi She also won a bronze medal in the recurve individual event.

Achievements

* Arjuna Award on the year of 2005. * 1st woman who have qualified for Olympic in the individual event on 2004 Athens Olympic. * Won individual gold on 2007 World Cup and as well as World Cup final on the same year. * Won gold in the 2010 Commonwealth games. * Team bronze in the Asian Games in 2010.

Personal life

Dola Banerjee is married to a corporate professional, Medhadeep Banerjee. and is a mother of a son, Diyan. Her younger brother Rahul Banerjee is also an Olympian & Arjuna Awardee archer. She is a cousin of the singers Shaan and

Sagarika Sagarika Mukherjee, also known as Saag, is an Indian singer and actress. She sings mainly in Hindi, Assamese and Bengali language songs but has also sung in Tamil and Telugu languages. She is the daughter of singer and composer Manas Mukher ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Banerjee, Dola 1980 births Living people Indian female archers Archers from Kolkata Sportswomen from Kolkata People from Baranagar Archers at the 2002 Asian Games Archers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2006 Asian Games Archers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2010 Asian Games Archers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Asian Games bronze medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists in archery Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Olympic archers for India Recipients of the Arjuna Award Indian sports executives and administrators Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in archery Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in archery Sportspeople from North 24 Parganas district