Soon after receiving the gold medal in the men's team compound event, Abhishek Verma sat in one corner of the room allotted to the Indian team. He wanted to be left alone for the next 90 minutes.
The last one hour had been just too hectic for this Delhi lad. He was the team's spokesperson at the official press conference and took some time off to speak to the large Indian media contingent.
"Be brief please. I will talk to you after the event," was his response to those who approached him.
He found his comfort zone in a corner beside the practice arena and shut himself off from the world around him. It was not a silent zone, but his archery mates gave him time to regain focus ahead of the individual compound event final.
The only person Verma wanted around was coach Lokesh Chand. "I just want my coach to stand with me for some time. He instills that sense of peace in me," Verma told dna even as his teammates wished him luck.
When asked if he wanted to speak to anyone else, say, his mother, Verma said, "I will, surely. But after the event. Right now, I only want my coach to say something in my ears. It is because of him that I'm here today," he added.
Two hours on, Verma lost to Iran's Esmaeil Ebadi of Iran but managed to retain his child-like smile with a silver medal around his neck. Verma was narrowly beaten 141-145 margin at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field. He started off well but faltered in between to hand a three-point lead at the end of the fourth round. In the fifth and final round, the Iranian shot three perfect 10s, leaving the Indian with no chance to make a comeback.
Verma was back in his element. "I'm not disappointed with my performance. This is the best day of my life," he said. Well, how else do you feel by winning two medals on the same day!
Wearing his medals around his neck, Verma got emotional while talking about the days when he took up archery in 2003. "I went to a government school in Model Town because my parents couldn't afford to put me in a private school. My father was undergoing psychiatric treatment. My mother was under immense pressure," an emotionally-charged Verma said.
But fate had some other plans for him. This school Verma went to was the only one where archery was popular in that part of the Capital. That's where coach Chand introduced him to the sport.
But when it came to buying equipment, he was cash-strapped. "There was one old fixed deposit, the only one, left with my mother. She liquidated it and gave me Rs 80,000," said Abhishek, who is now employed with the Income Tax department.
Verma feels lucky to have a coach like Chand. And he is happy that hi father's condition has improved. "That sum of Rs 80,000 changed my life forever. Now, I'm also an Arjuna Awardee," he said.
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