Deepika Kumari (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian archer who competes in the recurve event and has been ranked world number one. The daughter of an auto-rickshaw driver from Jharkhand, she won two gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games at the age of 16 and has since won many World Cup medals. She has represented India at four Olympic Games. She received the Arjuna Award in 2012 and the Padma Shri in 2016.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Deepika Kumari |
| Born | 13 June 1994, Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand), India |
| Age | 32 |
| Sport | Archery (recurve) |
| Hometown | Ratu Chatti, near Ranchi |
| Training | Tata Archery Academy, Jamshedpur |
| Olympics | 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024 |
| Highest ranking | World No. 1 (first in 2012) |
| Spouse | Atanu Das (m. 2020) |
| Honours | Arjuna Award (2012), Padma Shri (2016) |
Early Life
Deepika was born near Ranchi. Her father, Shivnarayan Mahato, drove an auto-rickshaw, and her mother, Geeta, was a nurse. As a child she practised her aim by throwing stones at mangoes and shot with home-made bamboo bows. In 2005 she joined an archery academy at Seraikela-Kharsawan run by Meera Munda, the wife of Jharkhand’s then chief minister, and in 2006 she won a place at the Tata Archery Academy in Jamshedpur, where she first trained with proper equipment and received a small monthly stipend.
Career
In 2009 Deepika won the Cadet World Championship in the United States at 15. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi she won gold in both the individual and team recurve events. In May 2012 she won her first individual World Cup gold at Antalya in Turkey and rose to number one in the world rankings. She went to the London Olympics as a medal favourite but lost in the first round in windy conditions.
Deepika won silver at four World Cup Finals between 2011 and 2015. In 2016 she equalled the world record score of 686 out of 720 in the ranking round at a World Cup stage in Shanghai. In June 2021 she won three gold medals in a single day at the World Cup in Paris, in the individual, women’s team and mixed team events, and returned to number one.
She reached the last 16 at Rio in 2016 and the quarter-finals at Tokyo in 2021 and Paris in 2024, but an Olympic medal has so far eluded her and Indian archery.
Personal Life
Deepika married fellow international archer Atanu Das in June 2020; the two won the mixed team gold together in Paris in 2021. Their daughter was born in December 2022, and Deepika returned to competition and to the World Cup podium in 2024. Her early life was the subject of the documentary Ladies First (2017).
Awards and Honours
Major Medals
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Deepika Kumari born?
Deepika Kumari was born on 13 June 1994 in Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand), India and is 32 years old.
What honours has Deepika Kumari received?
Arjuna Award (2012), Padma Shri (2016).
Featured image: Deepika Kumari (right) with her coach, Purnima Mahato, after winning gold at the Archery World Cup stage in Antalya, Turkey, May 2012. Photo by Rajiv Ran Prasad, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
