OREANDA-NEWS. September 6, 2012. Ace archer and Manager, Tata Steel's Sports Department, Deepika Kumari was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award by President, Pranab Mukherjee for her outstanding skills as an Archer, at an event held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan today. Deepika, a winner of several national and international laurels has the experience of competing under tremendous pressure at international matches such as the Olympics and is always earnestly focussed on improving her gaming skills with regular practice.

Congratulating Deepika Kumari, Mr Sanjiv Paul, Vice President, Corporate Services said, "We are extremely proud and happy for Deepika as we believe that she is very deserving of this honor. Her determination and hard work is inspirational to all young athletes. Tata Steel will continue to support Deepika and is confident that with her commitment, she will win many laurels for the country."

Born in 1994, Deepika joined Tata Archery Academy in 2008 and has since honed her skills in archery in the academy. Sheer perseverance and commitment to the sport saw her becoming the Sub Junior Champion and Senior National Champion soon thereafter.

Deepika won the Gold Medal in the Youth World Championship in Turkey in 2008. She represented the Indian team that won the Silver Medal in the 1st Asian Archery Grand Prix held at Bangkok in 2009. She won the Silver Medal in World Cup Stage III held at Ogden in August 2010.

At the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010, Deepika won the Gold in the individual event and a Bronze in the team event. She has represented India in the Asian Games 2010 held at China and won the Bronze Medal in the team event. Deepika, the current World No. 1, is representing India in the London Olympics 2012. She was also selected to represent India in Women's Archery at the London Olympic Games 2012 in July.