Dola Banerjee (Born 2 June 1980, Baranagar, North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal) is an Indian sportswoman who competes in archery. She is the first Indian woman to win the World Archery Championship. She is also the first woman archer of the country to clinch an Olympic berth. Dola Banerjee is the second woman archer to be honored with the Arjuna award by the Government of India in 2005.
At the age of nine, Dola Banerjee joined Baranagar Archery Club. Her first international appearance was in Youth World Championship in San Diego in 1996. Her skill was developed at the Tata Archery Academy, Jamshedpur. Dola Banerjee represented India at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was placed 13th in the women's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 642.
Dola created history by qualifying for the Olympics with her superb performance at the World Outdoor Target Archery Championship, New York in 2003. In 2005, Dola came to the limelight when she created history by winning the 18th Golden Arrow Grand Prix tournament at Antalya, Turkey. In 2006 SAF Games held in Colombo, Dola out shot compatriot Reena Kumari to bag the women's individual recurve gold in archery.
Dola Banerjee won the second international gold medal of her career when she bagged the individual recurve title of the fourth leg of the Meteksan World Cup archery at Dover (England) in August 2007. Having won the fourth leg, she qualified for the world cup final held at Dubai in November 2007 where the winners of the four legs competed. Dola Banerjee became world champion in archery by winning the gold medal in the women's individual recurve competition at the archery world cup held at Dubai, in November 2007.
In 2008 Beijing Olympics, Dola represented India in the women's individual as well as team event, but failed to reach the finals in both individual and team events. In 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, Dola Banerjee won Gold Medal in Women's Team Recurve with Deepika Kumari and L Bombayala Devi. She also won a Bronze medal on the Recurve Individual event.
Dola Banerjee is one of the most promising sports personalities of the country. She is working hard to achieve her dream - an Olympic medal and bring honors to her country.
