The ups and downs of archer Trisha Dev

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Bengaluru, October 26: Young archer Trisha Dev's journey to the summit has a lot of bumps and turns. The female archer who created history along with her two team-mates in the just concluded World Championship in Mexico by winning silver medal for the first time, started archery with an arrow, made of bamboo!

Trisha's father late Praloy Dev used to work as a caretaker of a local old age home. Her mother Supra Dev used to earn through private tuitions in their locality which is located in Baranagar, the north of Kolkata. Naturally, during that period, around ten years ago, Trisha's family was struggling for the survival and she did not have any alternative to buy an equipped arrow to take part in competitions.

Trisha achieved bronze in the sub-junior national championship with that bamboo arrow, costing merely Rs 500 when she was only 14 years old. Her mother said, "Trisha was so passionate about the game that I guessed she might establish her career in future in archery."

But after shining in the sub-junior and in the junior level all of a sudden Trisha's journey of success collapsed. She was ruled out of the Indian squad and even in a national championship as she was dropped from the Bengal squad for her poor performance. That was around in 2005.

Then she went to Punjab University to complete her study and that became her turning point. She had the blessing of experienced coach Jibanjyot Singh and following his advice Trisha changed her category from recurve to compound section.

After having gifted the country the first ever medal in the World Championship in Mexico City, Trisha said, "I was remembering my father. He always dreamed of my success in the international archery."

Trisha's father died last year and the 26-year old archer started suffering from depression. For around one month after her father's death Trisha did not even train. After a month's lay-off she finally recovered from the shock and went to Punjab to resume training under her coach.

Still, Trisha asserted saying, "I have still to go a long way. I always remember that I have not yet won gold medal in any international tournament. That is my ultimate dream."