Dola, Rahul launch their archery academy in Capital
The siblings, both Olympians, will guide talent in the northern parts of the country and keep India’s medal dream alive
New Delhi: India’s Olympian archery siblings Dola and Rahul Banerjee inaugurated their academy at the Sports Authority of India’s archery ground in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium complex on Sunday. With focus on recurve archery, the academy will be the first of its kind in the Capital as the siblings, even after their retirement, hope to pursue their quest to end India’s wait for an Olympic medal in the discipline.
Taking their dreams ahead are archers Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das. The couple was present at the inauguration as the India squad is gearing up to leave for Shanghai for the second stage of the World Cup from May 6 to 11. “Since the Paris Olympics, Deepika and Atanu have started training in our Kolkata academy,” said Rahul.
“We don’t have any other archery academy run by Olympians. This is one of a kind and the best thing about this academy is learning from their experience. Their mental and technical inputs have been really effective. Both Dola didi and Rahul are aware of the latest developments and they bring in a new outlook to tackling technical issues,” said Deepika, who along with Atanu is preparing for the World Championships to be held in Gwangju, South Korea, from September 5 to 12.
The DRB (Dola and Rahul Banerjee) Sport Foundation already has two academies in Kolkata and offers consultation to the Bengal’s state academy in Jhargram and the Swami Vivekananda State Police Academy in Barrackpore. There are DRB academies also at the KIIT University, Odisha and in Haldia, West Bengal.
“When Sports Authority of India (SAI) decided to outsource the archery academy at JLN Stadium, we jumped in. Our biggest draw was the Capital city and the location of this stadium. We wanted our presence in north India. Archers in the NCR and the whole of northern part of India can train here,” Dola Banerjee, the first Indian to win an individual World Cup Final gold, said.
“We are also setting up an academy in the tribal dominated area of Latehar in Jharkhand and we have an academy in Lanjhigarh, another tribal dominated area (in Kalahandi district) of Odisha,” Dola added.
“Didi and I are planning to visit all our academies in a rotational manner. The idea is to increase the pool of archers as much as possible. We will work more closely with the archers who show good potential,” Rahul Banerjee, the 2010 New Delhi CWG individual gold medal winner, said.
“The key to our academy will be providing every possible facility to the archers. We know the problems we faced when we were competing. We do not want our archers to face the same problems,” Rahul added.
