A Spanish man behind Deepika’s revival

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 4

Archer Deepika Kumari's fall from grace after the London Olympics debacle was astounding. From being the blue-eyed girl of Indian archery, the former world No. 1 was pushed into obscurity, so much so that she was left out of the Stage I and Stage III of the World Cups last year.

Her first-round exit from the 2012 London Games came as a shocker, especially after she was touted as a sure-shot medal prospect. Her forgettable outing at the Lord's — the venue for the archery competitions — hit her hard.

The 2010 Delhi CWG gold medallist was weighed down by the pressure of expectations. Self-doubt crept in, and the frequent change of coaches aggravated it. In her desperation to wriggle out of her misery, the 21-year-old Ranchi girl found help from an unexpected quarter -- Juan Carlos Holgado, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics gold medallist.

The legendary Spanish archer, who participated in four Olympics (1988, '92, '96 and 2000), approached Deepika last year in his capacity as the event manager for the World Archery Federation (FITA) during one of the tournaments.

Sensing she lacked confidence, Holgado started rectifying the technical mistakes she was making. Soon enough, results started pouring in. At the World Cup Stage IV, she won the gold in the recurve team event and bronze in the individual and mixed recurve events. Recently, she helped the recurve team to qualify for the Rio Games by winning a silver medal in the World Championships.

“He has helped me to exorcise the demons of the London Olympics. That was a bad phase, I was unsure about myself, my game. I was so low on confidence that my performances dipped. The fear of losing had gripped me. I am thankful to Holgado for boosting my confidence,” Deepika told The Tribune.

Holgado now not only advises Deepika on technical aspects of archery but also prepares her mentally to face her opponents and challenging weather conditions.

The Spanish legend has been observing the progress of the women's recurve team for some time. “He has been observing our performances because he has faith in our abilities. Whenever we meet him, he always helps us. We share our technical problems with him and he is always happy to help,” she informed.

Deepika reckoned that with time she has become more mature and experienced. “In the last Olympics I was not that experienced. But now, I am. Archery is a mental game, and I feel I am mentally much stronger now. I am confident of winning a medal at the Rio Olympics,” she said.

Deepika said she would like to engage a full-time physio and a mental trainer ahead of the Rio Games from her TOPS funding.

AAI to approach Ramdev for yoga lessons 

The Archery Association of India (AAI) has approached famous yoga guru Baba Ramdev to conduct yoga sessions for the Indian archers preparing for the 2016 Rio Olympics.  “We have realised that our archers need yoga sessions to become mentally stronger. This, I feel, can help our archers win medals at the Rio Games. I will speak with Baba Ramdev in a day or two to start yoga sessions as soon as possible. I'll ask him to kick it off, and then his disciples can carry it forward,” said AAI president Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

The Indian archers have a history of buckling under pressure and faltering at key moments.  “Archery is all about mental toughness. You need a stable mind before any competition. Yoga can be of immense help to any archer as it will help us in developing big-match temperament,” said Deepika Kumari.