Deepika Kumari bagged a hat-trick of gold medals in the World Cup Stage 3 in the individual, mixed team event with husband Atanu Das and the women’s team.
Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari understand that being on top of their game is of utmost importance as it is essential to garnering life-defining personal glory as well as unprecedented laurels for the country at the Tokyo Olympics. And their interpersonal rapport is special and unique.
Atanu Das and his wife Deepika Kumari bring their work home, but it does not affect them adversely. The two top stars, who are key members of the Olympic-bound Indian archery side, have made the sport part of their daily life and in turn, have reaped benefits out of it.
They understand that being on top of their game is of utmost importance as it is essential to garnering life-defining personal glory as well as unprecedented laurels for the country at the Tokyo Olympics.
Their interpersonal rapport is special and unique and pushes them in their mission, which cannot be entirely termed a personal goal.
Indian archers have always entered the Olympics in good form and with a lot of hopes of winning medals. However, they have never lived up to their potential so far.
After Limba Ram came close to winning bronze in Barcelona in 1992 before finishing fourth, no one has been in contention for a medal. India still awaits the first archery medal from the Games. Star archer Deepika Kumari and her husband Atanu Das lead the Indian charge, in both individual and mixed events.
“It helps a lot because we know a lot about each other and know about each other’s team. Sometimes our team members cannot speak about a few things, but we can do that with each other. If something is wrong in my team, then Atanu tells me and vice versa. We can talk to each other directly. Openness helps. As team members we try to help each other,” says Deepika, a multiple World Cup gold medal winner, and a World championships medallist.
Atanu throws more light. “We know each other so well, what is happening in each other’s body and mind. We discuss our game daily. A tournament is not a different experience for us. We take part in tournaments daily. We can speak the truth on one another’s faces, point out mistakes without thinking twice. Others may hesitate to do that,” says Atanu, who secured his first World Cup gold in Guatemala recently.
Despite all the hardships and uncertainties due to international flights — which resulted in the archers taking a circuitous route and traveling 86 hours to return from Guatemala to the Pune camp — the World Cup Stage I was a fine outing for the Indian archers who took part in an international event after 15 months. They claimed three gold medals and a bronze, including the individual gold medals of Atanu and Deepika.
“It was a bit strange to take part in an international event after so long, but it was a good experience,” says Deepika.
For Atanu, it was a mixture of excitement and fear (of the unknown). “No matter how much you practice, unless you get into a tournament you don’t know where you stand. After the 2016 Rio Olympics, I have been working on my mistakes. This performance tells me that my work is on the right track. I have spotted some mistakes in Guatemala and I will try to rectify those so that I don’t make them in future events including the Olympics,” says Atanu.
Both Atanu and Deepika understand that the essence of archery lies in the mind. They have been consulting a Mumbai-based psychologist, Jahnvi Bhambre (who has been working with Deepika since 2017 and with Atanu since 2018), to keep the mental side of their game under control.
“Archery is a mind game up to 90 to 95 percent. After a point, the skill level gets set and you need to fine-tune it. The mind behaves differently in different situations — matches, tournaments, conditions. You need to handle those situations. You should know how to handle nervousness, anxiety and deal with it on the spot,” says Deepika.
Even though she has earned a solitary quota place, Deepika understands the importance of bagging a team slot in the Olympics to give the country and each archer more than one opportunity to go for a medal.
In this, as the senior-most archer of the women’s side, she has a bigger role — that of a mentor — to play along with her crucial role as an archer.
“Mentoring is a big role for me. Sometimes they think I may be angry with them. I need to extract what is going on inside the younger archers’ minds. As a senior, if I say I fear something, then they can come forward and express themselves. Sometimes you need to play mind games so that they open up and perform with a free mind and enjoy the performance instead of fear. It is essential to perform with a free mind.
“I rate my team highly. We are working hard. We know where we stand and are training accordingly. We are trying to make ourselves strong to face every kind of moment.”
The men’s trio of Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das, and Pravin Jadhav also will be seen in the team and individual events. The Indian women’s recurve team astonishingly failed to qualify to this edition after going down to a lower-ranked Colombia in the final Olympic qualifiers.
This means India will not have a women’s team for the first time since they made their debut in the 2004 Games in Athens. However, Deepika is in red hot form ahead of the Games. She bagged a hat-trick of gold medals in the World Cup Stage 3 in the individual, mixed team event with husband Atanu Das and the women’s team.
Having represented India in the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Games, Deepika has a lot of experience on her side. The reigning world No.1 archer and multiple gold medal winner at the World Cups and Commonwealth Games had a disappointing start to her career in Olympics.
While she lost in the opening round in London owing to fever, she started her individual event brilliantly in Rio before losing in the Round of 16, after crashing out early in the team event with Bombayla Devi Laishram and Laxmirani Majhi.
All hopes for the elusive medal are pinned on the mixed pair of Deepika and Atanu. Both are in good form and their on and offfield coordination can get them their first-ever Olympic medal.
In the men’s individuals, Atanu, who is playing his third Olympics, can return with a medal if he performs to his potential while Tarundeep and Pravin have to play out of their skin for a favorable result. The men’s team of Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das, and Pravin Jadhav too face a tough competition.
