Two weeks of training with world and Olympic champion in Gwangju has held Dipika Kumari & Co. in good stead
It was during the 2012 London Olympics that a packed house and windy conditions at Lord's brought tears in the eyes of India's ace archer, Deepika Kumari.
So why did Kumari break down? Well, her failure to win a medal and, more shockingly, inability to match daily practice scores stunned her no end. There was something seriously wrong with Kumari and the rest of Indian archery contingent. It was not about fitness or technique, but more about the inability to handle pressure at the big stage.
But Incheon could well change all this!
The good news is the Archery Association of India (AAI) flew the contingent to Gwangju, a city in the southern part of of South Korea, to practice with some of the big stars. The biggest attraction for women archers was indeed practising alongside world and Olympic champion Ki Bo-Bae.
It was on the advice of India's foreign coach, Lim Chae Woong, who also hails from Gwangju, that the AAI decided to send team on August 29 to the academy Bo-Bae used to manage before taking up the India assignment.
"It makes a lot of difference to the archers," compound coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja told dna on Thursday. "Kumari has been practising with the world champion. That in itself is a great motivation. If you practise with world champions, you generally raise your game. Psychologically, too, you are in a better frame of mind," he added.
With a South Korean coach for the team, it seems India will feel more at home than any other archery teams in Incheon. "Normally, we face the language problem when we practise with Koreans. But with our coach Lim around, we surmounted this problem and this has made our archers mentally stronger," said the coach.
Having missed out on a bronze medal in Guangzhou four years ago, Kumari will look to open her account in the individual event here. However, she still will have to ward off a strong challenge from the Chinese and Koreans.
Kumari, however, feels she is now in a better position to deal with pressure situations. "I must admit I was bogged down by pressure in London. I am under pressure here, too, but I have to make sure it is under my control. I have to make sure the pressure factor works in a positive way for me," said Kumari.
Men's compound archer Abhishek Verma also admitted that the training in South Korea will make a huge difference to India's fortunes here.
"Getting used to the environment here," he said after archery team reached the Games Village on Thursday. When asked if training in South Korea for the last fortnight was going to help the Indians, Verma said, "Why not? It is all about playing under pressure and this time it could be a little different after practising with the local stars. There's no stage fright this time."
The Delhi-based archer, however, promised that India are going to win at least five medals in archery this time. "I can't say which events. But take my word, there will be at least five or even more in archery this time. We're completely ready to give our best," Verma said with a smile.
The archery events at Incheon will kick off on September 23 with the finals of every event concluding on September 27 and 28.
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