[Assam] Jayanta chosen for Arjun Award (The Sentinel,10.08.2007)

[Buljit Buragohain]

        Jayanta chosen for Arjun Award
  
By a Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, Aug 9: A twenty-year-long wait finally came to an end with ace archer Jayanta Talukdar chosen for the Arjun Award. The committee, headed by former captain of the Indian cricket team and all-rounder Kapil Dev, selected 14 players of different disciplines for this prestigious award and Asom’s archer Jayanta Talukdar has found his rightful place in the list. 
It is for the third time that a player from the State would receive the Arjun Award. Earlier, Bhogeswar Baruah and Monalisa Barua Mehta were chosen for the same. Bhogeswar Baruah received the Award in 1966 while Monalisa was honoured with the same in 1987. On the other hand, Jayanta would become the fifth archer in the country to be presented this Award. The other archers who received the Award earlier were Krishna Das (1981), Shyam Lal (1991), Limba Ram (1992) and Sanjeev Kumar Singh (1992).
In his brief reaction over telephone from Jamshedpur, a jubilant Jayanta said, “It is really a very nice feeling for me. I have been consistent in my performance in the last three years and I was optimistic that I would be selected for the prestigious Award”.
Jayanta has already been hailed by several sporting quarters as the brightest prospect in Indian archery. Born in 1987, Talukdar’s journey from a promising youngster to India’s top slot in archery has been simply remarkable.
The archer was picked up by Tata Archery Academy at a talent hunting camp in Guwahati almost seven years back and till date he is attached to the Academy. The archer first hogged the lime light in 2004 when he emerged as the top performer of the Indian team which made history by winning the silver medal at the Junior World Archery Meet in Britain. It was the country’s first medal at an international archery championship. Next year Jayanta became India’s top archer when he upstaged a few seasoned stars to clinch the Olympic round at the 25th Senior Nationals held in Kochi. In 2006, Jayant made the biggest leap of his career when he became the first Indian archer to win the gold medal at the FITA Meteksan Archery World Cup at Porec, Croatia. He also collected gold medal in the 2006 SAF Games held in Colombo and it was followed by Asian Games bronze medal which came in the men’s team event. 
Jayanta, a former world No 1, who has been nursing an injury on the bow arm since February, is now planning to return to competitive archery. First he would take part in the National Ranking Competition in Jamshedpur from August 16 to 19 to be followed by his participation in the Asian Championships in Beijing from September 14 to 19. The Beijing meet would provide a golden opportunity to Jayanta to fulfil his long-cherished dream—represent India in the Olympics and win a medal.
     (The Sentinel,10.08.2007) 


       
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