Ace archer and Manager, Tata Steel's Sports Department, Deepika Kumari was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award by President, Pranab Mukherjee for her outstanding skills as an Archer, at an event held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan today. Deepika, a winner of several national and international laurels has the experience of competing under tremendous pressure at international matches such as the Olympics and is always earnestly focussed on improving her gaming skills with regular practice.

Congratulating Deepika Kumari, Mr Sanjiv Paul, Vice President, Corporate Services said, "We are extremely proud and happy for Deepika as we believe that she is very deserving of this honor. Her determination and hard work is inspirational to all young athletes. Tata Steel will continue to support Deepika and is confident that with her commitment, she will win many laurels for the country."

Born in 1994, Deepika joined Tata Archery Academy in 2008 and has since honed her skills in archery in the academy. Sheer perseverance and commitment to the sport saw her becoming the Sub Junior Champion and Senior National Champion soon thereafter.

Deepika won the Gold Medal in the Youth World Championship in Turkey in 2008. She represented the Indian team that won the Silver Medal in the 1st Asian Archery Grand Prix held at Bangkok in 2009. She won the Silver Medal in World Cup Stage III held at Ogden in August 2010.

At the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010, Deepika won the Gold in the individual event and a Bronze in the team event. She has represented India in the Asian Games 2010 held at China and won the Bronze Medal in the team event. Deepika, the current World No. 1, is representing India in the London Olympics 2012. She was also selected to represent India in Women's Archery at the London Olympic Games 2012 in July.

About Deepika Kumari:
Deepika is the second Indian to win the World Championship title after Palton Hansda won the World champion at Mérida (Mexico) in 2006. She won the 11th Youth World archery Championship held in Ogden, USA in 2009, at an age of 15 years. She also won a gold medal in the same competition in the women's team recurve event along with Dola Banerjee and Bombayala Devi. Deepika won two gold medals, one in the individual event and other in the women's team recurve event at the Delhi Commonwealth games 2010. In May 2012, Deepika Kumari won her first World Cup individual recurve gold medal at Antalya, Turkey. She beat Korea's Lee Sung Jin by six set points to four in the final. Later in the year 2012 she became world no.1 in the Women's Recurve Archery.

About Tata Steel and Sports:
Tata Steel is the only Indian company to invest in world-class sports facilities, create academies and maintain and manage international level arenas. The cadets of its Tata Football Academy, the nursery for the sport in India, as well as those of the Tata Archery Academy, the only one of its kind for archery, besides Tata Athletics Academy, have justified the faith that the Company has in the talent and ability of its youth. Today, a significant part of the Indian Football team, India's best archers, some of its finest cricketers, athletes, shooters, a Grand Master and several national and international legends have realised their dreams as a result of the support they have received from TATA Steel's Sports Academies. Tata Steel is the only Corporate in the country to have been awarded Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar by the Honorable President of India. Cadets from the various academies here have further in life to have won honours like Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Padmashree, Dronacharya Award, Arjuna Awardees, Dhyan Chand Life Time Achievement Award, being Olympians, being Asian Medalists and innumerable medals at International & National levels.