Limba Ram

Limba Ram
Personal information
Nationality Indian
Born January 30, 1972
Saradeet, Rajasthan, India
Height 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Weight 58 kg (128 lb)
Sport
Country India
Sport Archery

Limba Ram is an Indian archer who represented India in international competitions including three Olympics.[1] He equalled an archery world record in 1992 at the Asian Championships in Beijing. The archer who earned laurels in archery at the international level is a product of the Akhil Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram which is working for the socio-economic upliftment and development of India's indigenous tribes in the remote tribal areas of India.[2] He was awarded PadmaShri award in 2012.[3]

Early life

Limba Ram was born in Saradeet Village(Jhadol tahsil, Udaipur district, Rajasthan state, India) on January 30, 1972. His family belongs to Ahari tribe and because of poverty, Limba Ram was used to hunt birds like sparrow, partridge and animals in jungle with his indigenous Bow (made of Bamboo wood) and reed Arrows. In 1987 one of his Uncles brought news that government is conducting trials in nearby village Makradeo to train good archers. In this trial 15 year old Limba Ram and three other boys (which include Arjuna award winner Archer Shyam Lal) were spotted by selectors of Sports Authority of India. Thereafter all these four boys were sent to New Delhi for four month training camp(Special Area Games Programme) under coaching of R. S. Sodhi.[4][5]

Career

Limba Ram was spotted and trained by Sports Authority of India in 1987. In the same year, 1987, he became overall Champion in National junior level Archery tournaments held at Banglore. In the following year 1988 he became overall champion in senior level national tournaments and selected to represent India in Seoul Olympics. In 1989 he reached to Quarterfinal in World Championship held in Switzerland. In the same year, 1989, he was at second rank in Asian Cup in Individuals and India got team Gold. In 1990 he helped India finish fourth in Beijing Asian Games. He represented India in three Olympics. In 1992 he equalled the world record of Takayoshi Matsushita in the Beijing Asian Championship in 30 meters event with score 357/360 to bag a gold medal.[6] After receiving this news Parliament of India congratulated Limba Ram.[7][8] In 1992 at Barcelona Olympics he missed the Bronze medal by one point in the 70-meter segment and finished with 10th rank. In 1995 he stood with second rank and team won Gold medal in Commonwealth Games held at New Delhi. In 1996 he was National Champion with Asian Record.[9]

Awards

The Government of India honoured him with the Arjuna award in 1991[10] and Padma Shri in 2012.

Downfall

In 1996 Limba Ram joined TATA Group. In the same year he suffered from serious shoulder injury while playing Football in training camp at Kolkata. He was unable to shoot a bow and lost his focus and concentration. He discontinued his job with TATA due to this problem. He joined Punjab National Bank in 2001 as a cashier. In 2003 he participated in third National ranking prize money archery tournament organized by Sports Authority of India but finished 16th.[11]

Present status

On January 10, 2009 Archery Association of India signed one year contract and appointed Limba Ram as National Archery Coach for 2010 Commonwealth Games. [12] [13][14][15][16][17][18]

References