Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    NEW DELHI, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Purnima Mahato from Tata Archery Academy (TAA) has been picked up as coach of Indian women's archery team at the Beijing Olympics, a news release from TAA in Jamshedpur said on Thursday.

    "This is the first time that a TAA coach has been given the responsibility of being a coach for the Indian team at the Olympics," the release said.

    Mahato, an accomplished archer, won a gold medal (team) in the International Archery Championship at Bangkok in 1993.

    She joined Tata Steel in 1994 and has been coaching the cadets of TAA ever since.

    In 2005, Mahato accompanied the nation's archery team to Spain for the 43rd senior world outdoor Archery Championship where India won a silver medal.

    She was also the coach of the Indian team which won a gold in the men's and a bronze medal in women's section at the senior Asian Archery Championship held in China last year.

    Mahato's latest achievement as a coach was at the second World Cup archery held at Croatia in 2008 where India bagged a silver and a bronze medal respectively.