Must know: 5 things about Deepika Kumari

Archer Deepika Kumari made the country proud by equalling the World Record  in the Women’s Recurve event at the qualifying stage at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai. The former world number one is currently ranked number 7th.

And in case your curiosity is piqued about the 21 year old from Bihar who has done so well on the world stage, here are five things you should know about her:

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• Deepika Kumari was born on 13 June 1994 to Shivnath Mahato, an auto-rickshaw driver and her mother Geeta Mahato who works as a nurse at the Ranchi Medical College.
• The 21-year-old Indian archer got her first breakthrough back in 2005 when she managed to get admission into the Arjun Archery Academy, an institute which was set up by Meera Munda, the wife of the former Jharkhand Chief Minister, Arjun Munda.
• Kumari was inspired to be a professional archer in the year 2006 when she decided to join the Tata Archery Academy in Jamshedpur. The institute gave her access to proper archery equipment and uniforms for the first time in her life, along with a monthly stipend of Rs. 500.
• Career graph:
• The 21-year-old became the second Indian archer to win the Cadet World Archery Championship title after Palton Hansda,  back in 2009. Then at the age of 15, she won the 11th Youth World Archery Championship that was held in USA back in 2009.
• Kumari also won a couple of gold medals in the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi. For this accomplishment, the Indian archer was awarded 'The Outstanding Performance at CWG (Female) Award' at the Sahara Sports Awards 2010.
• She had clinched her first Archery World Cup individual recurve gold medal at Antalya (Turkey) in May 2012.
• The archer was honored with the Arjuna Award - India’s second highest sporting award, in 2012. The Government of India also crowned her with the country’s civilian honor, Padma Shri in 2016.

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