Laishram Bombayla Devi was born on 22nd February 1985 in the Indian state of Manipur. He is a popular archer in India and represented India at various international events including the Olympics.
Career of Laishram Bombayla Devi
She represented India at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the women`s individual as well as team events, but failed to reach the finals in both events. She along with Pranitha Vardhineni and Dola Banerjee was ranked sixth in the team event qualifiers. They got a bye in the round of 16, but lost to China by 206-211 in the quarterfinals. In the individual event, she was ranked 22nd in the qualifiers, but lost to Iwona Marcinkiewicz of Poland by 101-103 in the round of 64.
Her moment of pride came when she won gold at the recurve team event in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The tremendous feat was attributed to unwavering focus and passion for the sport and desire to be among the best in the world.
Laishram hails from the state of Manipur and started the game of archery in her childhood. Right from the very young age she was fascinated by the sport, which was a family tradition for her. During her young age she was encouraged by her mother, M. Jamini Devi, who was a state archery coach and her father, Manglem Singh a state handball coach. It was her mother who provided her with all the help and initial trainings to perfect her moves. Later, she joined the Sports Authority of India centre in Imphal, Manipur for advanced training. Sports Authority of India helped in churning out the best in her and helped her become a world class athlete. In 2006, she won her first national title displacing experienced Sumangla Sharma in the finals and became the first Manipuri to carve a niche for her in archery.
In the next few years she established herself in the international circuit. MCT saw in her the world beating potential to be an Olympic Championand provided her with all the training support, medicine, equipment, competitions, fitness expertise, physiotherapy, nutrition, mental training and coaching. The never ending support from MCT actually motivated Laishram to give her very best effort. In the year 2007, she acquired the top spot at the third Asian Grand Prix in Iran. In the same year she also won the Bronze medals in the London World Cup and Asian Championship China
In 2008 Laishram finished fifth in the second stage in Croatia and at the World Cup organized in Turkey she was tenth at the third stage of the tournament.
She also became the first woman to qualify for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games after a brilliant performance at the 2007 World Archery Championship at Leipzip in Germany.
Mittal Champion Bombayla who established herself as the top archer in the world, competes in every tournament to bring glory to Manipur and India. Her sincerity, drive and competitive spirit have already helped her achieve many targets. She now desires to bring Olympic glory to India at the 2012 London Olympic Games