Deepika Kumari is world's number one archer

Ranchi, June 23 (ANI): Ace archer Deepika Kumari has scaled a new peak at the global stage, bagging the world number one ranking ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

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

Deepika's father Shivnarayan Mahato, an auto-rickshaw driver, was elated at her feat, but said that they were waiting for a Gold medal in London from her.

"When she goes for the Olympics and wins a Gold Medal, that would be the proudest and happiest moment of our life," Mahato said.

Deepika Kumari 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, recollected Deepika's early days in archery and said that her family had to endure tough financial situations to assist their daughter in her archery ambitions.

"We had lot of financial problems. We didn't even get our salaries and payments on time, sometimes in two months or even three months. We somehow used to arrange for the money to assist her in training, sometimes even by taking loans. After the initial three months she started to show positive results and win tournaments, we were satisfied that all our sacrifices have not been in vain," Mahato said.

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, China 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)