The first-ever Indian woman archer to earn a gold medal at the World Championships, Dola Banerjee, is one of the well-known archers from India.
In 2004, she was the first woman who qualified for the Olympics in the individual event at the Athens Olympics.
EARLY LIFE
The archer from West Bengal developed an addiction for archery when she was 10 years old.
In 1996, Banerjee participated at the Youth World Championship held in Sandiego at the tender age of 16.
Since then, Dola Banerjee has been an excellent member of the Indian women’s archery team.
PERSONAL LIFE
Dola Banerjee was born on 2nd June 1980 in Baranagar, North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India. She was born to Ashok Banerjee & Kalpana Banerjee.
Her younger brother, Rahul Banerjee is also an exceptional archer who helped the Indian Men’s recurve team earn a gold medal at the 4th stage of Archery World Championships in 2010. Her mother wanted Dola to become a playback singer but the archer chose a completely different path for herself.
Dola is married to Madhadeep Banerjee who is a corporate professional. The couple also has a son named Diyan.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Dola Banerjee has earned more than 52 gold medals, 21 silver medals and eight bronze medals at the National Level.
In 2004, Dola represented India at the Summer Olympics. The archer secured 13th place in the women’s individual ranking round with a total score of 642. In the first round, she competed against Kristin Jean Lewis from South Africa.
In 2008, Banerjee also represented India in the women’s individual & team events at the Beijing Olympics but she was not able to secure a place in the finals in either of the two events. She partnered with Bombayala Devi and Pranitha Vardhineni in the team event. The team secured the sixth rank in the qualifying round. The team got disqualified in the 16th round.
In 2010, Banerjee earned a gold medal in the women’s team recurve along with L Bombayala Devi and Deepika Kumari. The archer also clinched a bronze medal in the recurve Individual event.
AWARD
- Arjuna Award for Archery in 2005
ACHIEVEMENTS
ASIAN GAMES
- Bronze: 2010, Guangzhou: Team Recurve
COMMONWEALTH GAMES
- Gold: 2010, New Delhi: Team Recurve
- Bronze: 2010, New Delhi: Individual Recurve
WORLD CUP
- Gold: 2007, Dubai: Individual Recurve
| YEAR | NAME OF THE COMPETITON | NAME OF THE EVENT | ACHIEVEMENT |
| 2010 | 16th Asian Games | Team | Bronze |
| 2010 | 19th Commonwealth Games | Individual
Team |
Bronze
Gold |
| 2010 | 3rd World Cup | Team | Silver |
| 2010 | 2nd World Cup | Individual | 4th |
| 2010 | 1st Asian Grand Prix | Team | Gold |
| 2010 | SAF Games | Individual
Team |
Gold
Gold |
| 2009 | 5th Asian Grand Prix | Individual
Team |
Gold
Gold |
| 2009 | 4th Asian Grand Prix | Individual
Team |
Bronze
Gold |
| 2009 | 3rd World Cup | Team | Bronze |
| 2009 | 2nd World Cup | Team | Bronze |
| 2009 | 1st World Cup | Individual | Bronze |
| 2008 | Asian Grand Prix | Individual
Team |
Bronze
Gold |
| 2008 | XXIX Olympics Games | Team | 7th |
| 2007 | World Cup Final | Individual | Gold |
| 2007 | Asian Archery Grand Prix | Team | Gold |
| 2007 | Asian Archery Championship | Team | Bronze |
| 2007 | 4th World Cup | Individual
Team |
Gold
Bronze |
| 2006 | Asian Games | Individual | 4th |
| 2006 | Asian Circuit | Team | Silver |
| 2006 | 4th World Cup | Team | 4th |
| 2006 | SAF Games | Individual
Team |
Gold
Gold |
| 2006 | SAF Championship | Individual
Team |
Gold
Gold |
| 2005 | Asian Archery Championship | Team | Bronze |
| 2005 | Senior World Archery Championship | Team | 4th place |
| 2005 | European Grand Prix | Individual
Team |
Gold
Silver |
| 2004 | XXVIII Olympic Games | Team | 8th place |
| 2004 | 2nd European Grand Prix | Team | 4th place |
| 2004 | 3rd European grand Prix | Individual
Team |
7th place
4th place |
| 2003 | 13th Asian Archery Championship | Team | 4th place |
| 2003 | 42nd World Archery Championship | Individual | 4th place |
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Dola Banerjee
Nickname: Dola Banerjee
Sport: Archer
Events: Team and Individual Recurve
Country: India
Father’s name: Ashok Banerjee
Mother’s name: Kalpana Banerjee
Brother’s name: Rahul Banerjee
Husband’s name: Medhadeep Banerjee
Coach name: Shri Limba Ram, Shri Lalrem Sanga and Shri Harinder Singh
Height: 1.62 m & 162 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Weight: 69 kg (152.12 lb)
Eye colour: Black
Hair colour: Black
Date of birth: 2nd June 1980
Age: 39 years
Birth place: Baranagar, North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India
Zodiac sign: Gemini
Nationality: India
Hometown: West Bengal
Religion: Hindu
CONTROVERSY
Apart from her awards, achievements, and performances, Dola Banerjee hit headlines when she was asked to choose athletes for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna & Arjuna Award.
Dola was a part of the committee which suggested Sania Mirza’s name for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. That was against the Government’s regulation regarding the nomination of the players in different award committees.
NET WORTH OF DOLA BANERJEE
The primary income and net worth of Dola Banerjee come from her sporting career.
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES OF DOLA BANERJEE
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INSTAGRAM– NOT AVAILABLE
TWITTER– NOT AVAILABLE
