Those trolling and bashing Deepika Kumari after Paris Olympics performance are missing the target
Sport, as Deepika Kumari would have learned over the years, can be funny sometimes. One day you’re on the top of the world, and the next day you're at the centre of attacks and incessant trolling.
“Most overhyped," “utter garbage," "won’t let India win a medal till she’s playing" - these were some of the messages, shockingly among the more civil ones, sent out on social media after Deepika Kumari and Co. (Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur) bowed out to The Netherlands in the Women’s Recurve Archery Team event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Yes, Deepika Kumari has played four Olympics and has not won a medal yet. Her performance at Les Invalides was subpar as she wavered into the blue zone of the 122-cm wide target placed 70 m away from the shooting line.
The veteran was not on target, but nor are the trolls and social media users attacking her for being the reason that India failed to win an archery medal at the Olympics.
With love, from Ratu Chatti
When an arrow shot by a medal hope whizzes by on your TV screen to land on a 4 or a 6, it’s easy to get carried away by emotion. “Are these the Khelo India Games?”, “A practice session?”, “Who put her on the team?” - these are the sort of questions that people may and have asked. But do they really want to hear the answer?
More often than not, the instant outburst of emotion is just that. Seldom are the messages intended to start a meaningful conversation on what went wrong. However, it is a valid question. What did go wrong in Deepika Kumari’s case? Let’s rewind a bit.
Born in the Ratu Chatti neighborhood of Ranchi, Jharkhand, Deepika Kumari’s rise to stardom is storied. And it deserves to be.
Not too many years ago, the archer was still a young girl aiming for mangoes using stones. The prize for the perfect shot was not an Olympic medal, but the mangoes must have tasted just as sweet.
“She never missed her target with stones… We cut our family budget to provide her equipment and other support,” Geeta Mahta, Deepika Kumari’s mother had said in an interview back in 2010.
Dreams grew bigger as she moved to the Arjun Archery Academy and later, under the tutelage of her cousin Vidya, to the Tata Academy. A period of struggle followed. Her family cut corners to help sustain her training in the early years. The youngster, who found her first ₹500 stipend being credited monthly, only visited once in three years to focus on her training.
Success came her way at the Junior World Cups and the Cadet World Championship in 2009, a year before the famous golden double at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Her Individual win and Team Gold with Dola Banerjee and Bombayla Devi Laishram, in front of packed New Delhi crowds, catapulted Deepika Kumari to stardom. There was an outpouring of love and support for all Indian athletes who bagged medals at New Delhi 2010, the trio of archers included.
But once the tents and hoarding were taken down, targets locked away into storage, and the Commonwealth buzz put into newspaper archives, it was back to the basics for the athletes. Their love for the sport was all that kept the likes of Deepika Kumari going.
Deepika Kumari at the Olympics vs at the World Cups
How many medals has Deepika Kumari won at the World Cup stage? It’s hard to imagine any of the social media users being able to answer this question.
The Indian has stepped up to the podium on over 30 occasions at the World stage. She is proud of all her achievements, and deservingly so. The fans she has earned over the years make the journey even more special.
“When I became the world champion for the very first time and I stood on that podium, representing my country. That was one of my most cherished moments. And now, few people recognise me and want to acknowledge my work so that feels nice too,” Deepika Kumari had told knowledgetribe.in in a candid interview a few years ago.
But as the world would have it, you are not remembered for your successes but for your failures. Unfortunately for Deepika Kumari, they have come on four big stages — London, Rio, Tokyo, and now Paris.
But who is to blame? When archers win World medals, seldom do heads turn. But come the Olympics, and they are expected to carry the burden of a 140-crore-strong population.
Deepika fumbled in the qualification rounds at the Paris Olympics as well, shooting a 5. The internet rushes to find answers and give expert opinions on what went wrong, because they have free time to do so. Athletes don’t have that luxury; they have very little time to recoup and refocus. More often than not they know what went wrong, and so did Deepika in this case.
“Thoda sa nervous ho gayi thi (I got a little nervous). Senior ko dar nahin lagta kya? (Can’t seniors get scared?). One shot was quite bad as I forced it out, and that shook me up,” Deepika Kumari said candidly after the ranking round.
Indian athletes, in the current scheme of things, succeed despite the fans back home, and not because of them.
It is easy to jump on the Olympics bandwagon every four years, but what really counts is how fans show their support for the athletes when the entire world is not watching.
It is the quiet moments that make or break success. Indian athletes like Deepika Kumari, her teammates over the years, and countless others, have been celebrated for a week or two after every Commonwealth, Asian, and Olympic medal that they bring home. However, they are left to fight their own battles for the long weeks and months before and after each sporting extravaganza.
Time for 'fans' to step up
Deepika, who is married to fellow archer Atanu Das, gave birth to their daughter Vedika in January 2023. The young couple had very little time to celebrate the momentous occasion as she headed back to train for Paris 2024.
“It's difficult to explain the pain of being away from my daughter. But it is also about achieving what we have worked for so many years,” Deepika Kumari told PTI in an interview earlier this year.
And that’s just one part of all that the athletes give up to be standing where they are. A stray arrow does not and should not be reason enough to stop celebrating an illustrious career. Deepika Kumari is not the first athlete to shoot strays at back-to-back Olympics, and she probably won’t be the last.
But if as 'fans' we keep questioning her credentials to represent India at the sport's biggest stage, without sparing a thought for all her achievements, the countless hours on the practice ranges, and even more so, the selection trials that she aces every time to get there, we would be undoing all the work that has gone into getting Indian sports where it is today.
Deepika Kumari, or any other athlete for that matter, should not be the one being attacked. They are doing their bit each day. It’s time to shift the target and start questioning what we, as 'fans' of Indian sport, are doing to help.