‘London is history, it’s about Rio now’
Mumbai Mirror Bureau
Deepika-led recurve archery team confident that they won’t crumble under pressure in Rio.
Four year’s ago when the women’s recurve team went to London for the Olympics, they were considered to be favourites to finish on the podium. But the team, including former world number one Deepika Kumari, crumbled under pressure and that performance has haunted them for a long time afterwards.
Excerpts from their media interaction at the SAI campus here:
Preparations in Bengaluru
Deepika: The preparation is going well and we are confident about our game. We have actually improved on it. We have a positive outlook and looking to make ourselves fit and perform well there. We do yoga every day and pranayama later to control our stress and pressure.
We have learnt how to control heartbeat amid the tension. We are focused to win our matches there.
In team events, we’re good but are weak one-to-one. In the gap between the sets, we must improve and score. We are not consistent. The individual match will be different. In the competitions we took part in so far, we have been together. But in Rio, all three will be separated. Team and individual matches, we are improving to get more shots one-by-one (arrow).
Acclimatising to the weather and wind pattern
Deepika: We can’t talk about weather because it will be different daily and we can’t judge sitting here. We have gone there before and we hope it will not be colder than Bengaluru. That said, we will not get a lot of time to practice at the main dome also. But even if we get half an hour, we will make full use of it and try to adapt as soon as possible.
Difference in the last four years
Deepika: My shooting has improved and scoring too. I have done my mental preparation and can handle pressure better now. After what happened in 2012, I got scared to shoot. But I worked on it and it took time.
I didn’t expect to go out like that. It was difficult to do well but I have worked on my game and got over it. I recently equalled the world record of 686 in the 72-arrow ranking round, made by Ki Bo Bae of Korea. I didn’t know I had done it. I was just shooting and nothing else was on my mind. But after getting to know that, I became confident that I can do well in future also, especially in the Rio Games.
Realistic chances
Laxmirani: The competition is huge there. But we want to step up and get a medal. The medal we can only guarantee on that day. We can’t predict right now whether we will win it or not. But everyone wants to win a medal obviously.
Deepika-led recurve archery team confident that they won’t crumble under pressure in Rio.
Four year’s ago when the women’s recurve team went to London for the Olympics, they were considered to be favourites to finish on the podium. But the team, including former world number one Deepika Kumari, crumbled under pressure and that performance has haunted them for a long time afterwards.
The pressure of expectations would once again be on the shoulders of the women’s recurve team since the men’s team has failed to qualify. But this time, Dipika, Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi insist that they are bettered prepared to handle pressure and are raring to have a go in Rio.
Excerpts from their media interaction at the SAI campus here:
Preparations in Bengaluru
Deepika: The preparation is going well and we are confident about our game. We have actually improved on it. We have a positive outlook and looking to make ourselves fit and perform well there. We do yoga every day and pranayama later to control our stress and pressure.
We have learnt how to control heartbeat amid the tension. We are focused to win our matches there.
In team events, we’re good but are weak one-to-one. In the gap between the sets, we must improve and score. We are not consistent. The individual match will be different. In the competitions we took part in so far, we have been together. But in Rio, all three will be separated. Team and individual matches, we are improving to get more shots one-by-one (arrow).
Acclimatising to the weather and wind pattern
Deepika: We can’t talk about weather because it will be different daily and we can’t judge sitting here. We have gone there before and we hope it will not be colder than Bengaluru. That said, we will not get a lot of time to practice at the main dome also. But even if we get half an hour, we will make full use of it and try to adapt as soon as possible.
Difference in the last four years
Deepika: My shooting has improved and scoring too. I have done my mental preparation and can handle pressure better now. After what happened in 2012, I got scared to shoot. But I worked on it and it took time.
I didn’t expect to go out like that. It was difficult to do well but I have worked on my game and got over it. I recently equalled the world record of 686 in the 72-arrow ranking round, made by Ki Bo Bae of Korea. I didn’t know I had done it. I was just shooting and nothing else was on my mind. But after getting to know that, I became confident that I can do well in future also, especially in the Rio Games.
Realistic chances
Laxmirani: The competition is huge there. But we want to step up and get a medal. The medal we can only guarantee on that day. We can’t predict right now whether we will win it or not. But everyone wants to win a medal obviously.
