Deepika has proposed to tie a rakhi to Indian cricket skipper M S Dhoni on Rakshabandhan day. But before you start guessing, this Deepika
is not the Bollywood heartthrob with whom Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh's names were linked sometime back.
She is the budding archer from Jharkhand who brought laurels to the country by bagging a gold medal in the 11th Youth World Archery Championship in US on July 16 this year.
Busy practising at the Tata Archery Academy with Olympic glory on her mind, Deepika has plans to come to Ranchi on August 5 and go to Dhoni's home to tie the rakhi.
"I've always revered him as an elder brother and when I bagged a gold medal in US, I thought if I approach him on Rakhsabandhan he may not refuse me," the 15-year-old told TOI with a glint in her eyes.
Deepika, hailing from a nondescript village, Katamkuli, in the Ranchi district has been a sports-lover since childhood. Showing that lack of money and facilities could not stop a focused individual from succeeding, she joined the Saraikela-Kharsawan Archery Academy for a brief period before coming to the Tata academy where coach Dharmendra Tiwary began grooming her up.
Her father Shiv Narayan Mahto is an auto driver in Ranchi and mother Geeta Devi is a nurse in a government hospital in Tupko. Deepika never got a chance to go to school for formal education but appeared in the final exams directly this year and passed it.
"Though I secured second division in the matriculation exam, I was happy because I could continue with my education," she said. Deepika is now doing her intermediate at Kareem City College in Jamshedpur.
Deepika gives a lot of credit to the Tata academy for her development as an archer. "As a child I never picked up bow and arrow because I had no scope for that. But my mother acknowledged my interest and agreed to send me to the academy in Saraikela despite financial constraints," she said.
"The gold medal in the World Youth meet has brought me to the centrestage and now I have to live upto the expectations of people. For that I am putting in the best effort," she said.
Deepika gets up at 6.30 in the morning and after practising for 10 hours everyday retires to bed by 10 in the night. In this packed schedule, she spares one hour daily for studies. Talking about her training, Deepika said, "Apart from physical exercises, we are taught special tricks to control breath and undergo imagination training so that while participating in an event we are not nervous."
She added that she was groomed to face international competition while participating in events in Turkey and Bangkok. "I was a bit nervous in US but mental training and presence of Purmina madam (her coach) helped me."
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