Limba Ram is an Indian

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 mo ...

who represented India in international competitions, including three

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. He equalled an archery world record in 1992 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 hosted ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. He was awarded the

Padma Shri Award Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred ...

in 2012.

Early life

Limba Ram was born in Saradeet Village (

Jhadol Jhadol (Jharol) is a village in Jhadol Tehsil in Udaipur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. 2001 census, it had a population of 4,753 in 988 households. It is the headquarters of Jhadol tehsil (sub-district), and is sometimes written ...

tahsil,

Udaipur district Udaipur district is one of the 33 districts of Rajasthan state in western India. The historic city of Udaipur is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district is part of the Mewar region of Rajasthan. History Before Udaipur d ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

state, India) on January 30, 1972. His family belongs to the Ahari

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

and because of poverty, Limba Ram relied on hunting birds like

sparrows Sparrow may refer to: Birds * Old World sparrows, family Passeridae * New World sparrows, family Passerellidae * two species in the Passerine family Estrildidae: ** Java sparrow ** Timor sparrow * Hedge sparrow, also known as the dunnock or hed ...

partridges A partridge is a medium-sized galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They are sometimes grouped in the Perdic ...

as well as other animals in the jungle with his indigenous bamboo bow and

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

s. In 1987, one of his Uncles brought news that

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

would be conducting trials in the nearby village of Makradeo to train good archers. At this

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

, 15-year-old Limba Ram and three other boys (among whom was future

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 ...

winning Archer Shyam Lal) were spotted by selectors of the

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is the apex national sports body of India, established in 1982 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of Government of India for the development of sports in India. SAI has 2 Sports Academic institution ...

. Thereafter, all four boys were sent to

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 House ...

for the Special Area Games Programme, a four-month training camp under the coaching of R. S. Sodhi. The Akhil Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, the

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...

-linked organisation that works for tribal welfare, has claimed that it identified Limba Ram through its ''Ekalavya Khelkood Pratiyogita'' competition.Aiming high - Vanavasi Kalyana Ashram is helping tribals achieve self-reliance
-

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

, Saturday, February 25, 2006Sangh Sandesh
January–March 2012, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK

Career

Limba Ram was spotted and trained by the Sports Authority of India in 1987. In that same year, he became overall champion at the National Junior Level Archery Tournaments held in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. Just one year later, in 1988, Limba Ram would be victorious at the National Senior Level Tournament, earning for himself not just the title of overall champion but also the honour of representing his country at the Summer Olympics held that year in Seoul. In 1989, he reached the

quarterfinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the

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

held in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In the same year, he would finish in second place at the

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

in Individuals and India got team Gold. In 1990, he helped India finish fourth at the Beijing

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

. He represented India in three

. In 1992, he equalled the world record of Takayoshi Matsushita in the Beijing

in the 30 meters event, with a score of 358/360 to bag the gold medal. After receiving this news

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

congratulated Limba Ram. In 1992 at the

Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, Ram missed the

Bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

because score was tied and the opponent player has shot just 1 ten higher in the 70-meter segment and finished with 9th rank in qualifying round and finished 4th in elimination round and did not qualify for Bronze Medal match. In 1995, he stood with second rank and the team would win a gold medal at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

held in

. In 1996 he was National Champion with Asian Record. And also participated in 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.

Awards

The Government of India honoured him 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 ...

in 1991 and

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), 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. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 2012.

Decline

In 1996 Limba Ram joined

TATA Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...

. In the same year he suffered from serious shoulder injury while playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

in training camp at

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 ...

. He was unable to shoot a bow and lost his focus and concentration. He discontinued his job with TATA due to this problem. He joined

Punjab National Bank Punjab National Bank (abbreviated as PNB) is an Indian public sector bank headquartered in Delhi. The bank was founded in May 1894 and is the second largest government-owned bank in India, both in terms of its business volumes and its network ...

in 2001 as a

cashier A retail cashier or simply a cashier is a person who handles the cash register at various locations such as the point of sale in a retail store. The most common use of the title is in the retail industry, but this job title is also used in the ...

. In 2003, he participated in third National ranking prize money archery tournament organised by Sports Authority of India but finished 16th.

Present status

On January 10, 2009, to 2012 London Olympics

Archery Association of India Archery Association of India (AAI) is the national governing body of archery in India. Its headquarters are located in New Delhi, and its current president is Arjun Munda, AAI is a non-profit, government funded organisation affiliated by World ...

signed and appointed Limba Ram as National Archery Chief Coach for 2009

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 concept i ...

and 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 4 Bronze medals, 2010 World Cup Medals: 2 Gold, 3Silver, 2 Bronze

and won 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze medals under his coaching, 2010 Guangzhou

1 Silver and 2 Bronze medals, 2011 World Cup Medals: 1 Gold,8 Silver, 2 Bronze, 2011 World Archery Championship Medals: 1 Silver, 2011 World Archery Youth Championship Medals: 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze and 2012 London

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, 2012 World Cup Medals: 1 Gold, 2 Silver Total 11 Golds, 20 Silvers and 16 Bronze medals under season 2009 to 2012 London Olympics his coaching, guidance and his achievement as National Chief Coach of Indian Archery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Limba Indian male archers Living people Recipients of the Arjuna Award Archers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Archers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Archers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic archers for India Archers from Rajasthan Rajasthani people 1972 births People from Udaipur district Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Archers at the 1994 Asian Games Archers at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India