New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) With the Asian Games fast approaching and Olympic qualification tightening, India’s top recurve archer Deepika Kumari says the Paris 2024 heartbreak still lingers, fuelling a renewed focus on mental conditioning to boost her podium ambitions.
Deepika, competing in her fourth Olympics in 2024, reached the quarterfinals of the women’s individual event but went down 4-6 to Korea’s Nam Suhyeon and missed out on a medal.
The seasoned campaigner admitted that the biggest battle now is not external expectations but the noise within.
“More than the noise outside, the noise in my mind, I hear that more. So I can’t ignore all that. This is my life. What do I have to do in my life, what have I done, I know. No one knows anything,” she told PTI Videos on the sidelines of the National Ranking Archery Tournament (NRIT).
“I literally curse myself what am I doing, what is happening, my life is a waste, what am I doing with my life. Sometimes I feel like I haven’t achieved anything in my life… the more we don’t speak, the more noise comes inside. It is very difficult to manage that.” The reflection stems from a campaign where she showed glimpses of form, including a run to the last eight, but could not deliver in decisive moments, a pattern that has followed her Olympic outings.
However, the former world No. 1 has remained among India’s most consistent performers on the circuit since her return to competition post motherhood. In the 2024 season, she clinched a silver medal at the Shanghai World Cup and also secured a podium finish at the Asia Cup.
Deepika said the lessons from that phase have pushed her to look inward, shifting the focus decisively from technique to mastering the mental side of the sport.
“The preparation is going on quite well. We are going to play the World Cup in the next 10 days, the second World Cup. The arrangements are going on quite well.
“We are thinking of doing something different. We are trying different things. I hope we get success in all those things,” she said.
At the NRIT, too, she showed encouraging signs.
“We played very well in the NRIT. Generally, I have not played all the NRITs. I have played only two NRITs, which I have spoiled a lot. But this NRIT was good. This year was also very good,” she said.
With the Asian Games scheduled later this year, Deepika underlined that India’s recurve squad is consciously working on handling pressure situations better, an area that has often proved decisive in crunch knockout ties.
“Technique is a different thing. We have mastered the technique. While practicing, you don’t have to focus so much on the technique because your subconscious mind is already filled. But mentally, you have to work every second and every minute. We are focusing more on this, heartbeat and mentally,” she explained.
“Generally, there is a lot of heartbeat in competition, but in practice it becomes difficult to increase the heartbeat because the mind knows that it is practice. So we work out and exercise it, how do we increase the heartbeat, how do we shoot mentally. We focus more on this.” Calling elite archery largely a mental contest, she added, “Ultimately, I feel that 85 to 90 per cent is the game of the mind. No matter how bad the skill is, you are doing the same shooting, but if the mind is strong, you can perform well.” The emphasis on psychological strength also feeds into India’s Olympic ambitions, with qualification pathways becoming increasingly stringent. Deepika acknowledged that recent rule changes have raised the stakes.
“These rules this year are very difficult. Maybe very difficult to say, but only medal winners are related to qualification. So we are focusing on that because in the last two steps, the team was not able to perform as well as we are training ourselves,” she said.
“At the moment, we are doing bad things at the right time. We are focusing more on how to cope up with that because winning a medal is more important for us, rather than thinking about other things.” A key part of that preparation has been working on self-talk and mindfulness to counter negative thoughts.
“We have a lot of self-talk because we think more about negative things in competition. So how are we doing self-talk positively? We try to stay in the present because we are very close to the future. So how to stay in the present, with self-talk,” she said.
“I am focusing on meditation and self-talk. Because in the last few years, I have been focusing on negative things. Even after a lot of hard work, I was able to achieve a lot, but still I was focusing on negative things.” PTI HN AH AH
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