Needed to work on my confidence: Deepika Kumari

Every dark cloud has a silver lining. Winning a silver medal in the Archery World Cup final in Tokyo last Sunday was the silver lining India’s No 1 archer Deepika Kumari needed after her poor show at the Olympics. Deepika lost to world No 1 Ki Bo Bae of Korea 4-6 in the final.

“I had taken a four-point lead but then, towards the end, it was my fault. I didn’t hold on to the advantage,” said the world No 2, who also surrendered her No 1 ranking to Ki.

Life has not been the same for the 18-year-old after her stint in the Olympics. “I was so disappointed by my performance. I didn’t know what happened to me. I felt the earth move under my feet.”
As soon as Deepika returned to India, she headed out to the training ground instead of going home. “All I wanted to do was get back to training. I had to prove to myself what I’m capable of. I had to recover from my loss at the Games. That recovery was very important for me,” said the Jharkhand teenager.

The ace archer was not just upset with herself but also with what was written and said about her. “After I lost my first round against Britain’s archer Amy Oliver 2-6, I felt like crying but I controlled my emotions. I was hurt by the comments about me. At that moment, I wanted to respond to each and every person but I held my nerve and knew if I had said something at that moment it would have been like shooting oneself in the foot.”

Deepika worked at getting her confidence back. “I needed to concentrate on my game and work on my confidence level. In archery, you have to be mentally strong. Honestly, during the Games, I was very nervous.”

But there is so sign of remorse for the young archer when she watches the six medallists on TV. Deepika said: “They have equally worked hard and have won a medal that they truly deserve. Honestly, I’m not interested in appearing on TV. I am upset because I couldn’t win a medal for the country in archery and could not take the sport to greater levels.”