The Golden Boy  
Jayanta considers him lucky of getting the necessary support, backing and the equipments at the right moment.
North East News Agency

He comes across as any normal 18-year-old boy flashing that toothy smile. He is very shy and excess attention clearly makes him nervous and uneasy. Put a bow in his hands and it will automatically become clear the actual stuff this boy is made of. He is not only the cynosure of all eyes in his home State Assam but currently the new sporting sensation of the country. Jayanta Talukdar – the ‘bull’s eye boy’ has arrived.

A Gold medal at the world stage can’t be a fluke. Before him, India hadn’t thrown up any archer who could calmly mute the challenge of Olympic medalist one after another and become triumphant on such a big stage. Jayanta has been performing consistently, of late. Jayanta joined Tata Archery Academy in December 2000. He bagged a team silver in the junior World Cup in Munich in 2004 followed by another team silver in the senior World Cup in Spain in 2005. By 2005, Jayanta was considered one of the most promising names in Indian archery. Against top names in the world, he was coming very close. He and his coaches knew that a medal winning performance in individual events was also a possibility. But his clinching the very Gold in the first of the five leg FITA Archery World Cup by beating the best in business, comes as a pleasant surprise to everyone. Even the world Archery federation, the supreme body of the game, was not late to tag Jayanta as a rising star in the world of archery. Talukdar’s mentor and coach Sanjeeva Kumar Singh at the Tata Academywas euphoric on getting the news of Jayanta’s success. Jayanta’s coaches, fellow archers and other great names in archery  are sure that Jayanta will bring in more laurels for the country in the form of medals at the world and the Asian stage.

At the time when Talukdar won the Gola medal, he was a virtual non entity. “Jayanta Talukdar – who?” was the typical reaction even in his home State if anything was asked about the young archer. But then the news of his Gold medal winning feat spread fast and quick. From being a non-entity, Jayanta became a toast in matter of days. From the time he landed in Guwahati airport, he was given a hero’s welcome. The All Assam Students Union (AASU), which is doing a great job of highlighting and backing all young achievers from the State, gave a rousing welcome to Jayanta and felicitated him. The AASU asked the State Government to rise to its responsibility of supporting talents like Jayanta to enhance their skills. From itsown side, it promised to do everything possible to support Jayanta in his quest for achieving sporting glory. The Directorate of Sports, Assam also felicitated Jayanta in which Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi handed over Rs. 50,000 to the young archer and promised another one lakh for him towards purchasing equipment. Jayanta uses two bows given to him by the Tata Academy but is yet to have a personal equipment of his own. On knowing his desire to have personal equipment, the Chief Minister generously came up wit the offer. Apart from a small felicitation by the State Governor himself, the Assam Olympic Association, The Archery Association of Assam, the Assam Sports Journalist Association and even the Assam Cricket Association have each honoured Jayanta in their own special way. Even the AUDF congratulated Jayanta and its chief Badruddin Ajmal announced a cash incentive of Rs. 50 thousand.

The young archer very clearly got awed by this overwhelming reception. For the return of the love and adulation of his people, he promised to gift more memorable moments. But the archer made it quite clear that despite wishes from many quarters, he won’t be able to turn for Assam in the coming National Games as his contact till 2008 binds him to Jharkhand. Playing down his own merit, he thanked the Tata Archery Academy for giving training by providing world class facilities and equipments. “Others may have similar talent like me and can do even better from my home State. It is just the question of getting the necessary support, backing and the equipments to enhance one’s standard. I am lucky to get it. Assam archery talents should be given proper financial and technical support in order to perform better,” Jayanta said after his fecilitation by AASU. Jayanta confessed that he hadn’t aimed to win Gold medal at Croatia. “I was determined to win a medal. The Gold came as a pleasant surprise. But this performance has greatly enhanced my confidence. Earlier I lost big matches narrowly. But I worked hard on it, particularly on my concentration level and to stay calm in crunch situations. Now I think I can compete with the very best and on my day beat any big name,” said the world champion archer.

Jayanta hails from a renouned business family in Guwahati. It is his father who inspired him to take up this sport and he was instrumental in getting Jayanta in to Tata Academy. Archery attracted Jayanta right from his childhood. At present, Jayanta has a world ranking of 4. Apart from the four remaining legs of the world cup, Jayanya has the Doha Asian Games as his immediate target. Jayanta has also appeared in his HSLC examination this year, the results of which are awaited. But the name of this to pass out from school kid has already been proposed for the Arjuna Award by the Government of Jharkhand.

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