MANGAL SINGH CHAMPIA
Born: 9 November 1983
Sport: Archery (Recurve)
Major Achievements: Won bronze medal in the team competition at Doha Asian Games (2006)

Mangal Singh Champia held his first bow and arrow as a child in his remote village of Ichakuti in Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. The bows and arrows game is part of his tribal culture; but, unlike others in his native place, Mangal took it up as a serious sport. In 1998 he won the junior national title. The next year he got himself admitted at Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. Under the guidance of coach Cherukuri Satyanarayana, he started excelling on the national circuit and showed promise at the international level.

In the Doha Asian Games (2006), Mangal helped the Indian team to bronze. September 2007 turned out even better. In the Asian Archery Championship at Xi'an, China, he earned a berth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics by winning bronze in the individual men’s recurve section. He also played an important part in helping the team win gold along with Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Raju Alonda after a gap of 18 years. At present, Mangal is training in XXXX with XXXXX XXXX for the Beijing Olympics.