“We tell ourselves thousands of times that I have to win a medal” - Archer Deepika Kumari on taking pressure at the Olympics
Former World No.1 archer Deepika Kumari has stated there will be a lot of pressure in the Olympic Games because of little things missed during the crunch moments of the game. She stressed focusing more on the physical and mental aspects of the game.
Deepika stressed on focusing on minor things in order to improve her game play and stance a chance to bag a team medal at the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024. After becoming a mother to a baby in December 2022, Deepika Kumari’s main aim is to make herself stronger.
“Like, as you asked a question, do we put pressure on ourselves to win a medal. Somewhere during the competition, that comes naturally because when we go to the normal World Cup, we never think that we have to win a medal, we just perform,” Deepika Kumari told Rev Sportz.
“But during the Olympics, we tell ourselves thousands of times that I have to win a medal, I have to win a medal, and somewhere, what happens is that we miss those little moments, those small things on which we put pressure on ourselves, or when we miss them, we focus on those things,” she went on to add.
“I'm pushing myself more in both physical and mental aspects because technically, everything is already in the subconscious mind. When I do mental training, but I'm focusing more on mental training than ever before. My focus is to make myself strong beyond that,” Deepika Kumari stated.
A three-time Olympian and two-time world championships medal winner, Deepika, married fellow Indian archer Atanu Das. She took a long leave of absence from archery to give birth to a girl child in December 2022.
Deepika Kumari had a baby in December 2022
A three-time Olympian and two-time world championships medal winner, Deepika Kumari, who is married to fellow Indian archer Atanu Das, recently took a long leave of absence from archery to give birth to a girl child, Vedika, in December 2022.
Deepika conveyed that she focussed a lot on preparation during her time at home. After her delivery, she insisted on making a comeback to the Indian team. She also admitted being in and out of the team was frustrating.
“I worked really hard in preparation because sitting at home for the last two years had become like a trauma for me, that I might get admitted. I always used to tell myself that I have to come back, I have to come back, because sitting at home after being out with the team is very boring, and when you know you can do it and you're still out of the team, it's more frustrating, so I worked really hard because after delivery, I couldn't immediately focus on my physical, because I had to eat and feed the baby, and all that,” she concluded.
While representing Jharkhand, Deepika made her comeback at the National Games 2023, winning a recurve women’s individual gold in Goa after defeating Haryana’s Sangeeta by 6-2.
Furthermore, she also secured a gold in the mixed double with Mirnal Chauhan and teamed up with Dipti Kumari and Komalika Bari to bag the women’s team silver after losing the final to Haryana.