Mumbai: After three iffy rounds to kick off the Archery Premier League, Deepika Kumari turned up for the fourth slightly anxious. Until she had a chat with Brady Ellison, a stalwart in recurve archery.
“He told me, ‘don’t worry, trust yourself, we have planned for this, everything will be fine’. He somehow gave me the confidence that it’s going to work, and to not doubt myself,” said Deepika.
American Ellison is a five-time Olympic medallist who, for 10 days in New Delhi, will also be the star Indian archer’s teammate in the newly-added league to the country’s sporting ecosystem. Deepika is “excited” about archery joining the bandwagon through a product featuring foreign recruits, different format (mixed compound and recurve matches) and shorter times (15 seconds between arrows to the usual 20). And, a different kind of pressure compared to seeking medals in multi-nation events.
“Here the pressure is about money. If you win, you will earn money. It’s not about medals,” Deepika said, laughing. “So here, the pressure is different. But whatever we can learn from this and take with us, it will help.”
What the 31-year-old hopes to take from “interacting non-stop” for about two weeks with proven performers like Ellison is to pick up mental nuances that get them to Olympic podiums. It’s where Indian archers, including Deepika, have often faltered.
“Like when we needed a 10, he (Ellison) shot a 10. I asked him how he does it. He said: I go, draw, shoot, and trust myself,” said Deepika. “This kind of simple, minimal and clear thinking is refreshing for me. We have a habit of overthinking a bit. Even if they hit a bad shot or lose a match, they tend to move on a lot quicker.
“It’s really interesting to observe the behaviour of foreign players – not just Brady – and how they learn from those mistakes the next time they shoot. It’s great to learn, especially for the younger kids who are getting this exposure.”
Some of those kids are giving Deepika company of late in the national setup. Two 15-year-olds, Gatha Khadake and Sharvari Shende, have made the step up to the senior women’s recurve team. The former was part of last month’s World Championships (the team finished 4th) and the latter of the Madrid World Cup.
Twice their age, Deepika stands out among these “Gen Zs”, as she calls them. “Jo bhi seniors the mere sath, woh toh sab chale gaye (the archers of my age have all gone out),” she chuckled.
To ensure that the same doesn’t happen to her is a big challenge but also motivation for India’s most experienced female archer.
“For someone like me, it will get a bit difficult. But it also motivates me,” said Deepika.
“Watching these young kids coming into the team, I tell myself, ‘Deepika, if you want to stay in the team, you will have to work twice as hard and perform twice as much as them’. I will need to find extra energy to match them. But at this stage of my career, I will have to focus more on quality over quantity in training. Those kids will focus on both, as they should.”
From her years of experience, Deepika shares with the new kids on the block only when asked. “Because, well, they are Gen Z,” she said. “They have their own way of thinking, which is totally different.”
After winning the World Cup Final silver last October, it’s been a quiet year for Deepika so far. A World Cup bronze in Shanghai in May was followed by below-par outings in the next World Cups and the World Championships. She made a coaching change after the Paris Olympics, teaming up with Olympian Rahul Banerjee.
“I’ve been trying to learn in a different way and improve in a different way. And to apply all that in tournaments. Sometimes I’m succeeding, sometimes failing. But mostly so far, it’s been failures, because I’m still in the trial phase,” she said. “Overall, it’s okay. Working with Rahul bhaiya is going well for now. Let’s see what the future holds.”
