Family hopeful as Deepika Kumari aims for Gold in London Games

Ranchi, July 27 (ANI): As the expectations of over a billion Indians rest on her shoulders, parents of ace archer and recently crowned world number one, Deepika Kumari pray for her success at the 2012 London Olympics.

The 18-year-old is the second Indian woman archer after Dola Banerjee and Jayanta Banerjee to achieve the top ranking.

Deepika's father Shivnarayan Mahato, an auto-rickshaw driver, said that the family was proud of Deepika and the weight of attaining the Gold at the quadrenniel games was immense.

"First when people used to talk about Olympics, we did not know what the Olympics were, but now we know what they are, their significance. When our daughter qualified for the Olympics, it was a moment of great joy and pride for us. We pray to God to give her the strength to win the gold medal," Mahato said.

Deepika won her first World Cup individual recurve gold medal at Antalya, Turkey in May this year, beating Korea's Lee Sung Jin by six set points to four in the final.

Her mother, Geeta Mahato, said that her family had to endure tough financial situations to assist their daughter in her archery ambitions.

Deepika won two Gold Medals, one in the individual event and other in the women's team recurve event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

As part of the Indian archery recurve team at the 2010 Asian games in Guangzhou, Deepika along with Rimil Buriuly and Dola Banerjee edged out Chinese Taipei 218-217 in the bronze play-off to ensure a podium finish. (ANI)