Arjuna awardee Talukdar hopes to do well in Olympics

Jamshedpur, Aug 31 (UNI) Ace archer Jayanta Talukdar, a recipient of this year's Arjuna Award, today exuded confidence to perform well in the coming national and Innternational tournaments.

A visibly ecstatic Jayanta, who returned here today from New Delhi after receiving the coveted award from President Pratibha Patil on August 29, told meidia persons, ''It was a memorable and very special moment of my life and I am determined to perform well to make India proud in the forthcoming national and International tournaments.'' Jayanta, the winner of gold medal in recurve event in the World Cup Championship in Croatia last year, said, ''It was a recognition of my consistant performance in the past few years and a great award in a sportsperson's life. The award is great morale booster and it'll encourage me to do much better in future.'' Jayanta, a cadet of Tata Archery Academy here, said, ''My aim is to bag a medal in the next year's Olympics.'' He said he was also confident of qualifying in the Asian Archery Championship.

Jayanta, a second archer from Jharkhand after Sanjeeva Singh to get Arjuna Award, said he owed his good performance to his Korean coach Lim Chae Woong, coaching him since 2002.

He also expressed his gratitude to his Indian coach Dharmendra Tiwary for lending support to perform well.

The Arjuna awardee, who had a lean period in recent time, said he had overcome the problem with the help of his coach Lim by modifying a few finer points in his technique.

UNI