- By Namrata Vijay
- Sat, 20 Jul 2024 03:49 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Paris Olympics 2024: India's ace archer Deepika Kumari has struggled to balance both personal and professional lives. On one hand, she wants to spend all her time with her 19-month old daughter Vedika and at the same time she also wants to win the Olympic medal.
But she has shown grit and determination while balancing these two lives and that has helped her to qualify for the Paris Olympics and this will be the fourth major tournament of her career.
Her resilience to win a medal in the upcoming marquee event was quite evident as she spent the last two months away from her daughter to work on her skills.
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“It's difficult to explain the pain of being away from my daughter. But it's also about achieving what we have worked for over so many years,” Deepika was quoted as saying to PTI.
It was her husband, Atanu Das, who himself is an international archer, took Vedika to Army Sports Institute in Pune, just a few days before Deepika left for Paris.
It was an emotional moment for her.
“I miss her a lot, but that's how it is. Thankfully, she has been really supportive and has adapted well with my in-laws and Atanu,” she added.
Her difficulties began right after she gave birth to her daughter in December 2022.
Her muscles became sore ands even picking the 19-kg bow up became challenging for her.
“We had planned for the delivery in such a way that we would be able to compete in Paris. But it was like starting from zero after the delivery.Forget about shooting or lifting the bow, she was not able to do even simple daily chores,” Atanu told PTI.
“Gradually, she started jogging and put in a lot of hard work at the gym to get going again", he added.
At one point, Deepika thought that her archery career is all but over.
“Career lagta hai khatam ho gaya, kya main aur shooting nahin kar paoongi? (It seems my career is over...Won't I be able to shoot again?” she would often ask her husband.
But then she somehow managed to bounce back.
She performed brilliantly at the National Games held in Goa last year as she won two gold and one silver medal.
She then decided to train under the former Korean archer Kim Hyung-Tak, who also became her full time coach and who also played his debut Olympics in 1984 in Los Angeles.
“It was not just about the skill aspect but his guidance also plays a part in bringing clarity to shooting. It really set me off,” Deepika added, as she also won a silver medal at the Shanghai World Cup, which was her first podium finish in the last two years.
At the same time, she also dominated in the selection trials, which went for about three months, which her husband and mentor failed to make it.
Lim factor
Irrespective all her personal achievements in world tournaments, Deepika still hasn't won an Olympic medal.
She inched closer to winning one in the Tokyo Olympics but unfortunately lost to An San in the quarterfinals.
This time she will face a stiff challenge from South Korea's 21-year old Lim Si-hyeon in Paris Olympics.
She has already lost to Lim twice till now, at Shanghai and then at Yecheon World Cup.
“I cannot change the past. I'm fully prepared and happy with the way I'm shooting. We will see what happens on the match day if at all we have a match-up,” she revealed.
Happy Paris memories but no pressure
Paris has been quite giving to Deepika as she had won three gold medals in the 2021 World Cup in the individual, team and mixed events along with her husband Atanu.
She had also won a silver medal in the World Cup final in 2013 and another silver medal at the World Cup last year.
She admitted that she is treating this marquee event like any other major tournament.
“I don't understand why there is so much hype surrounding the Olympics in our country. Everyone looks up to archery once the Olympics nears and it creates unnecessary pressure. We have to take it like any other competition. The pressure (on the Indians) is more mental," she said.
She wants to be in the radar.
“I don't want any attention. We have done well consistently to be able to make it here. We just have to get a good rank in the qualification to get a favourable draw", she concluded.