Pressure, wind challenges for Deepika Kumari at Tokyo 2020: Dola Banerjee

India’s Deepika Kumari is the archer to beat on current form. She regained the world No. 1 ranking in women’s individual recurve after her hat-trick of gold medals at the World Cup Stage 3 in Paris last month. Heading into her third Olympics, there is tremendous expectation from the 27-year old to deliver her country’s first archery medal at Tokyo 2020.

World Cup, World Championships, Asian Games, Asian Championships, Commonwealth Games – there is hardly any podium that Deepika hasn’t stood on, apart from the biggest of them all, the Olympics!

“The Olympics is at another level altogether. Even for someone who has won a World Cup, an Olympic medal carries a different meaning. Because even qualifying for the Olympics is very difficult, and our women’s team could not qualify this time,” Dola Banerjee, the former Indian archer and Olympian, tells Olympics.com.

“Deepika has won nearly everything apart from an Olympics medal. This time, it cannot be said that she does not have the experience as this will be her third Olympics. So the pressure to win a medal will be there,” adds Banerjee, who won the women’s recurve team gold along with Deepika at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Archery is a brutally unforgiving sport. Recurve archers get 20 seconds to shoot an arrow targeting a central ring 12.2cm in diameter placed 70 metres away in an outdoor range subject to the vagaries of weather conditions.

“It is a matter of shooting three good arrows at a time [per set], which on the given day, any archer can do. But people can lose even after shooting triple 10s,” says the 41-year-old Dola Banerjee.

“Nobody asks you the score then. Those who know archery will understand that it was bad luck, but the public will only see who won gold and who lost.”

The wind challenge

In an outdoor sport of tiny margins, a major factor that can affect performance is wind, something that had bothered Deepika Kumari at London 2012. 

“There could be no wind when your opponent is shooting, but when it is your turn 20 seconds later, there could be a gust of wind,” explains Banerjee.

“The way most of our ranges are in India, wind is not that big a factor. But in world tournaments where big grounds are used, they are usually on the city outskirts where wind becomes a factor.”

The Yumenoshima Park Archery Field for the Tokyo Olympics is in the Tokyo Bay zone, where wind is likely to play a role.

“It’s going to be hard to read the wind,” Rio 2016 men’s individual recurve bronze medallist Brady Ellison had told the World Archery website after the Tokyo test event in 2019.

“All week it’s been a headwind. With the big back wall behind the targets, you don’t see it on the flags on the targets until it comes from the side and is a true sidewind. So we’re going to have to rely a lot on feeling and then the flags on each side of the field.”

Deepika Kumari won silver at the Tokyo test event and was ranked fourth in the qualification round, so she will have had some measure of the range in a competition scenario.

Handling pressure

That dreaded word. Everyone feels pressure at the Olympics, says Dola Banerjee, but only those who can conquer it go on to take the podium. For an archer, one erratic shot under pressure could undo everything.

The most crucial thing for an archer, according to Banerjee, is controlling one’s heartbeat. 

“You have to keep your heartbeat under control. If your heart races too fast, you will not be able to control the bow. You will start to tremble, your aiming position will go haywire and your arrow will surely not go where you want it to.

“You have to control your thoughts, things such as what will happen if I win or lose, what will people’s reaction be. And all of this has to be done within 20 seconds, which is very little time.”

No crowd an advantage for Indian archers

There will be no spectators allowed at the Tokyo Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dola Banerjee feels that could work in India and Deepika’s favour.

“Absence of crowd can be a bit of an advantage for India. Host nations especially have tremendous support and that can work against you if you are playing against them.

“Our archers are not used to crowds. At our ranges, we usually have only players and a few officials, not too many supporters.”

At the 2008 Olympics, Dola Banerjee was part of the Indian team that lost narrowly to hosts China in the quarter-finals, and she remembers the vociferous crowd support her opponents got.

“In Beijing 2008, we were doing well against China, but there was so much support for the home team and they made so much noise that one of our archers was disturbed towards the end and made a poor shot.”

There is no such impediment for Deepika Kumari this time. Form and experience are also on her side and Banerjee feels the world No. 1 could open India’s archery account at Tokyo 2020.