NEW DELHI: With no money to repair her house, India medal winning archer has been forced to sell her bow for a few thousand rupees. Archer Nishi Rani Dutta's (21) story echoes several other sports stars, who have been ignored by India's sports officials and industry, which has been almost exclusively backing cricket as the currency sport of India. “My family is poor and we live in a mud house which needed repair. There was no money for it. I had to sell my bow to repair it,” said Nisha who is one of three siblings in the Dutta household in Jamshedpur, in Jharkhand district. Nisha claims that she sold her Rs 4 lakh bow for Rs 50,000 so that she could repair the roof before the oncoming monsoon season here. As a professional archer, Nisha had won the silver medal in the South Asian Championship and had also won the bronze in Bangkok at a Grand Prix. At the Asian Grand Prix in 2007 held at Taiwan Nisha had bagged the best player award. India's sports minister Ajay Maken has expressed regret that Nisha had to take such a step. “It's an unfortunate incident. The incident has come to my knowledge through the Sports Authority of India. We would extend all kind of help to the athlete,” Maken has said, adding that athletes of such calibre should get government employment. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/IVrP0 Tags: Archers, housing, India, Nishi Rani Dutta, Roof, Struggle Section: Latest News, South Asia, Sport
