From being unable to arrange food for himself due to financial crunch and then taking up archery to hunt sparrows for meals to representing India in the sports at Olympics thrice, Limba Ram’s tale is truly inspiring!
Limba Ram is India’s first Olympic archer. He is also the person, who helped India win many medals and prepared several aspiring and young archers to compete for the honours. He has competed at three Olympics and provided the best archery performances at numerous international competitions.
Limba, an Ahari tribal, was born on January 30, 1972, in Rajasthan. Growing up, he struggled to arrange his daily meals. He initially used his self-made bamboo bow to hunt sparrows, partridges, and other creatures. He was an accurate archer with the toughest equipment because of that. The Sports Authority of India’s selector’s team recognised Limba’s brilliance in 1987 when he was only 15-year-old. When the SAI team realised Limba had talent, they sent him, along with three other boys, including Shyam Lal, to Delhi for the Special Area Games Programme. At the time, the team was conducting trials in the surrounding hamlet for another prominent archer of India. He received valuable coaching from R. S. Sodhi there. Limba underwent some extensive training in mind control and aerobics. The power to concentrate and keep performing was the need of the hour. The SAI grounds hold some fond memories for Limba. This was the place where he started to understand what archery really was. Under the guidance of RS Sodhi, he learnt the art and technique of shooting. Having the inclination, quest to learn and commitment, led this man all the way to the top.
The archer quickly found his footing and made an impact on the world stage with his predatory performances. Limba first gained stardom after he won the title at the Bangalore-based National Junior Level Archery Tournament. Limba improved his performance at the World Archery Championship in 1989 and made it all the way to the quarterfinals. He competed for India at the same year’s Archery Asian Cup and won gold and silver medals in the men’s team and individual competitions, respectively. The Asian Games were held in Beijing the following year, and Limba’s impressive performance there helped India be placed at the fourth position.
Limba was given recognition for his earnest efforts in archery in 1991 when the Indian government gave him the Arjuna Award. The following year, he had a masterful performance in the men’s individual 30 metre event at the Asian Archery Championship, matching Takayoshi Matsushita’s world record with a score of 357/360 to win the gold medal. He finished 10th at the Olympics in Barcelona that same year.
Limba won a silver medal in the men’s individual competition at the 1995 Commonwealth Archery Championship in Delhi and played a significant role in helping the men’s team win the gold medal. He won the national championship that year with an Asian record. However, limba’s career took a break when he suffered a serious shoulder injury that same year while participating in a football game in Kolkata. For many years following the accident, it was nearly impossible for him to raise the bow and aim for the target, yet in 2003, he competed in the Sports Authority of India’s national ranking archery tournament and was placed at the 16thspot. Due to his injury, Limba was forced to give up playing sports. But that wasn’t the end of Limba’s contribution to the field of archery. He soon took up coaching duties.
Landmarks
- 1989 Archery Asian Cup in Beijing: He won gold and silver medals in the team and individual competitions, respectively.
- 1992 Asian Archery Championship Beijing: He won gold and tied the world record at the time by scoring 357/360 in the 30m event
- 1995 Commonwealth Archery Championship in New Delhi: He won gold and silver medals in the team and individual competitions, respectively.
- 1991: He was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award
- Competed in three Olympic Games, came close to winning the bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics.
- 2012: He was honoured with the Padma Shri for his immeasurable contribution to Indian archery.
