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

archery 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 ...

Early life

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

Baranagar ("City of hogs") , settlement_type = City , image_seal = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , pushpin_map = India West Bengal#India3#Asia , pushpin_label_ ...

near

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. 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 the tender age of 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 ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. 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 Kirstin Jean Lewis (born 1975) is a South African archer. She represented South Africa at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. In 2004, she placed 52nd in the women's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 606. In the first round ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. 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 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 Arjuna, one ...

by the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

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 also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, but failed to reach the finals in both events. She teamed up with Pranitha Vardhineni and Bombayala Devi 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. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

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 people, Canadian Archery, archer who competed at three Summer Olympics, Summer Olympic Games between 2004 and 2012. Beaudet made her international debut in 2002, and in addition to ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

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 ( Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

, she won Gold Medal in Women's Team Recurve with

Deepika Kumari Deepika Kumari (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian professional archer. Currently ranked the World No. 2, she competes in the event of archery. She won a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth games in the women's individual recurve event. She also w ...

and L Bombayala Devi She also won a Bronze medal on 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 archer. She is a cousin of the singers Shaan and

Sagarika Sagarika Mukherjee (born 4 September 1970), 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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Banerjee, Dola 1980 births 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people 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 Archers from Kolkata Asian Games bronze medalists for India Asian Games medalists in archery Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in archery Indian female archers Living people Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Olympic archers of India People from Baranagar Recipients of the Arjuna Award Sportswomen from Kolkata Indian sports executives and administrators