Jayanta chosen for Arjun Award
By a Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, Aug 9: A twenty-year-long wait finally came to an end with ace archer
Jayanta Talukdar chosen for the Arjun Award. The committee, headed by former
captain of the Indian cricket team and all-rounder Kapil Dev, selected 14
players of different disciplines for this prestigious award and Asoms archer
Jayanta Talukdar has found his rightful place in the list.
It is for the third time that a player from the State would receive the Arjun
Award. Earlier, Bhogeswar Baruah and Monalisa Barua Mehta were chosen for the
same. Bhogeswar Baruah received the Award in 1966 while Monalisa was honoured
with the same in 1987. On the other hand, Jayanta would become the fifth archer
in the country to be presented this Award. The other archers who received the
Award earlier were Krishna Das (1981), Shyam Lal (1991), Limba Ram (1992) and
Sanjeev Kumar Singh (1992).
In his brief reaction over telephone from Jamshedpur, a jubilant Jayanta said,
It is really a very nice feeling for me. I have been consistent in my
performance in the last three years and I was optimistic that I would be
selected for the prestigious Award.
Jayanta has already been hailed by several sporting quarters as the brightest
prospect in Indian archery. Born in 1987, Talukdars journey from a promising
youngster to Indias top slot in archery has been simply remarkable.
The archer was picked up by Tata Archery Academy at a talent hunting camp in
Guwahati almost seven years back and till date he is attached to the Academy.
The archer first hogged the lime light in 2004 when he emerged as the top
performer of the Indian team which made history by winning the silver medal at
the Junior World Archery Meet in Britain. It was the countrys first medal at
an international archery championship. Next year Jayanta became Indias top
archer when he upstaged a few seasoned stars to clinch the Olympic round at the
25th Senior Nationals held in Kochi. In 2006, Jayant made the biggest leap of
his career when he became the first Indian archer to win the gold medal at the
FITA Meteksan Archery World Cup at Porec, Croatia. He also collected gold medal
in the 2006 SAF Games held in Colombo and it was followed by Asian Games bronze
medal which came in the mens team event.
Jayanta, a former world No 1, who has been nursing an injury on the bow arm
since February, is now planning to return to competitive archery. First he
would take part in the National Ranking Competition in Jamshedpur from August
16 to 19 to be followed by his participation in the Asian Championships in
Beijing from September 14 to 19. The Beijing meet would provide a golden
opportunity to Jayanta to fulfil his long-cherished dreamrepresent India in
the Olympics and win a medal.
(The Sentinel,10.08.2007)
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