Dola proud, wants to concentrate on next appointment

Kolkata, Aug 7 (UNI) With Olympic Gold on her mind, ace archer Dola Banerjee will be back for the qualifiers in Jamshedpur next week preparing for the World Meet in Ziang in China this September.

Dola Banerjee returned to the city amidst a mad frenzy after securing a gold in the World Cup in England. A fussilade of flashbulbs and a barrage of mediamen thronged for her attention, while a sizable crowd cheered the North Kolkata girl, who moved over to the Jamshedpur Tata Archery facility two years back.

She overcame a tough challenge from Chinese Juan Juan Zhang to win the recurve individual gold medal at the Meteksan Archery World Cup in Dover, England on Sunday (August 5).

Dola defeated Zhang 111-110 in a nail-biting finish in the final round. Dola, who won the recurve team bronze on Saturday, earned her ticket to the final by defeating Malgorzata Cwienczek of Poland 108-101 in the semi-final without much difficulty. Earlier she spearheaded the Indian team, comprising Chekrovolu Swuro and L Bombayla Devi, to the team bronze on Saturday by registering a comfortable 208-198 victory over Poland.

Jostling with the police and a large media brigade, Dola was felicitated by the SAI, Eastern India, and Baranagar Municipality, for the laurels she had earned for India.

''I feel proud and humbled by the achievement. I only hope to win more medals for my country in future also,'' Dola said.

''I will be going to Jamshedpur for the national qualifiers next week. After that we head for Ziang in China in September,'' she said, telling it is the fourth of the five world meets in archery.

As the bagpipers led the onward journey for Dola, she said, ''This is overwhelming. I will remember the love showered on me.'' The plane arrived from Mumbai ten minutes late as the entire archery team returned after a mixed world meet.

UNI