Name: Limba Ram
Discipline: Archery
Date of Birth: January 30, 1972
State: Rajasthan
Achievements:
- Gold in team event in Archery Asian Cup, Beijing, 1989
- Gold in Asian Archery Championship, Beijing 1992
- Gold in team event in Commonwealth Archery Champonship, New Delhi, 1995
- Arjuna Award in 1991
Profile:
Limba Ram was born on 30th of January, 1972 at Saradeet village in Udaipur, Rajasthan in a poor adivasi family. He used to hunt birds, animals for food with his ingenious bow and arrow made of cane wood. In 1987 Sports Authority of India organized a trial camp near Limba's village. Limba was selected in the trials and was sent to New Delhi. Limba received training under coach R.S Sidhu for four months. This stint proved mile stone as he won the Junior National Championship that year which was held in Bangalore.
In the following year 1988 he became overall champion in senior level national tournaments and selected to represent India in Seoul Olympics. In 1989 he reached to quarterfinal in World Championship held in Switzerland. In the same year, 1989, he was at second rank in Asian Cup in individuals and India got the team gold. In 1990 he helped India finish fourth in Beijing Asian Games. He represented India in three Olympics.
In 1992 he equalled the world record of Takayoshi Matsushita in the Beijing Asian Championship in 30 meters event with score 357/360 to bag a gold medal. After receiving this news Parliament of India congratulated Limba Ram. In 1993 at Barcelona Olympics he missed the Bronze medal by one point in the 70-meter segment and finished with 10th rank. In 1995 he stood with second rank and team won Gold medal in Commonwealth Games held at New Delhi. In 1996 he was National Champion. He was conferred with Arjuna Award in 1991.
He is now the national archery coach of India. He is credited for the unexpected splendid performance of Indian archers in Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2010.
