It was worth sitting up through the night and, from thousands of miles away, feeling the mental toughness that the Indian recurve archers showed in their first international competition in a long time, the Guatemala City 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup. That they will return with three gold and a bronze medal was secondary to how the archers held themselves together under pressure.
Sunday night felt as if the Indians willingly made pressure their companions and tested their ability to deliver the goods when under stress. It was almost as if they were field testing the work they had done with their sports psychologist over the past few months. Their wins would somewhat assuage the feelings of the Compound team that got left behind at home in a tragic turn of events.
It would be easy to celebrate the fact that Deepika Kumari and her husband Atanu Das would be taking home the two individual gold medals but that would be glossing over the fact that the Indians showed a grit that marks them as serious challengers in the competitions ahead, including the Olympic Games in Tokyo later this year.
Sample this: The women’s team of Deepika Kumari, left-handed Ankita Bhakat and teenaged Komalika Bari stared defeat in its face before riding on a bit of luck and their own skill to keep Mexico at bay via a tie shoot-off. And Deepika Kumari, often known to crumble under pressure, hit the Bull’e Eye to nail a 5-4 (57-56, 55-57, 55-57, 57-52, 27-26) win for India.
“It’s very important for us to perform well here because we have to qualify for the Olympics,” Deepika Kumari told the World Archery website. “We want to handle the pressure, and this has helped.” She was referring to the fact that the Indian women’s team has not yet secured a quota for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Not long after, Ankita Bhakat teamed up with Atanu Das to beat the United States of America’s Mixed Team of Casey Kaufhold and the formidable Brady Ellison 6-2 (37-34, 35-38, 38-36, 37-35) in the bronze medal play-off. It was a win that saw the Indian duo, either of whom had finished second in the women and men’s qualification rounds, shoot with confidence and belief.
It spilled over to the women’s recurve final where Deepika Kumari edged out USA’s Mackenzie Brown by the barest of margins, winning gold because her shoot-off arrow was closer to the 10 than her rival’s. It seemed a natural extension of the sharp focus that she brought to her shooting, scoring two 10s and a 9 in the fifth set to force the shoot-off despite trailing 3-5.
“It’s been a long time since I shot in the finals,” she said. “It feels great and, at the same time, I’m happy and nervous. It gives me confidence and pushes me to give better performances.” It is only Deepika Kumari’s third World Cup gold.
It was then Atanu Das’ turn to showcase resilience turn a 2-4 deficit into a 6-4 (29-28, 26-28, 27-29, 28-24, 30-28) verdict against Spanish youngster Daniel Castro in the men’s final to make his maiden World Cup medal a golden one. The 30 he shot in the final set was confirmation of the fact that he did not allow the possibility of conceding a defeat cross his mind.
“It feels amazing. It’s like dreams are coming true,” Atanu Das, who secured the first international gold of his career, was quoyed as saying by the World Archery website. “I’ve worked so hard for so many years, and now this is paying off.”
Of course, without taking anything away from the command show by the recurve squad, it must be remembered that a number of leading archers and teams stayed away from the World Cup Stage 1 with health concerns. Having said that, this trip a long way from home will remain a milestone for the manner in which Indians dealt with tricky situations, not allowing them to clutter their minds.
Image: Indian Archery’s first couple, Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari wear their medals with pride (Photo courtesy: World Archery website)
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