DEEPIKA KUMARI - THIS MONTH'S INSPIRATION

Deepika Kumari (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian athlete who competes in the event ofArchery, is currently ranked World No. 2, and is a former world number one. She won a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth games in the women's individual recurve event. She also won a gold medal in the same competition in the women's team recurve event along with Dola Banerjee and Bombayala Devi.

Kumari qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where she competed in theWomen's Individual and Women's team events, finishing in eighth place in the latter.

She was conferred with Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award in the year 2012 by President of India Pranab Mukherjee. In February 2014, she was honored with FICCI Sportsperson of the year Award.

Deepika Kumari was born to Shivnarayan Mahato, an auto-rickshaw driver of theKumhar caste and Geeta Mahato, a nurse in Ranchi Medical College. 

Her parents live at Ratu Chati village, 15 km away from Ranchi. As a child, she practised archery while aiming for mangoes with stones.

In the early days it was rather difficult for the parents to financially support Deepika's dream, often compromising on the family budget to buy her new equipment for her training; as a result, Deepika practised archery using home made bamboo bows and arrows. Deepika's cousin Vidya Kumari, who was an archer at Tata Archery Academy, who helped her develop her talent.