Daughter of scrap dealer makes Indian archery team after battling Covid, Amphan

However, the double whammy of coronavirus and cyclone failed to break the spirit of his daughter Aditi, who has just made it to the Indian archery team for the World Cup, World Championships and the Asian Games.Backing her all along was former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Rahul Banerjee, now a full-time coach.Daughter of the Baguiati-based scrap dealer, Aditi has been a meritorious student and secured 97 per cent in the ISC exams, which got her an admission into St Xavier's College with Economics honours.

Rajkumar and his wife Uma wanted Aditi to focus on studies, like his elder brother Adarsh, who is pursuing engineering from Vellore as it "guarantees a job".But Banerjee was convinced that Aditi was destined for "much bigger things"."There was a time when we would be lucky to get one meal a day when my father's shop was shut for close to two years during the lockdown," Aditi told PTI after returning from the archery trials in Sonipat, where she earned an Indian team berth.It was a gruelling two-phased trial spanning two months across Kolkata and Sonipat.As she got down to work, Aditi continued recollecting her "days of struggle"."Our house got flooded after Amphan and we lost all connectivity for days with no power. Somehow, we overcame all the odds and good days seem to be back."My parents are now convinced that archery has a future. Hopefully, I keep improving. Every sportperson's dream is to play for India at the Olympics and win a medal, but it's a long way to go."I'll just have to keep at it," added Aditi, who is inspired by Korean archer Ku Bonchan, the Rio Olympics double gold medallist.This is the first time that the 20-year-old has made the cut for the first-choice Indian team. Earlier, riding on her gold