Donning identical India jerseys and shooting with a flawless rhythm while engaging in long-distance endurance running during a training session at the Army Sports Institute in Pune, B. Dhiraj, Tarundeep Rai, and Pravin Jadhav exude a palpable determination. Their goal? To showcase their absolute best at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The trio is aware that the hunger for an Olympic archery medal, a feat that has long eluded India, will only escalate the pressure on them. This pressure could be a double-edged sword, potentially detrimental to their performance.
Dhiraj, set to make his Olympic debut as the youngest and most accurate of the trio, understands this well. “It is just another tournament. Of course, there is a lot of hype about the Olympics. It is my first Olympic Games. But inside me, it is just another tournament. Like in every tournament, I am giving my best. I will do the same work. Nothing special,” Dhiraj says stoically during an interaction with Sportstar.
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Despite his recent impressive results, Dhiraj possesses the maturity to prioritise team success. He realises that the team event, which features only 12 countries, offers a more favourable path to a medal than the individual event, which includes a draw of 64 archers.
“From the beginning of the year, we have been planning how to improve our performance. We are on the same track; everything is going in the right direction.
“It’s not about an individual. We are a team. We have been competing together for a long time. Whether it’s in the Services or the National team, we have been competing together since 2021.
“If I am competing individually, then the rest of the team supports me. If anyone else is competing, then the rest of the team supports him.”
Dhiraj acknowledges the unpredictability of individual competition. “We don’t know what will happen. I don’t know what will happen the next day. I am 100 per cent sure that I will give my best.”
Dhiraj, who honed his skills at the Cherukuri Volga Academy in Vijayawada before joining ASI in 2017, has achieved commendable individual success. He secured bronze medals in World Cup stages in 2023 and 2024 and clinched an Olympic quota place last November. His solo quota place guaranteed India’s presence in the archery event at the Paris Olympics.
“Our target was to win the team quota. We didn’t succeed in that. Even after winning an individual quota, our target was to win at least one team quota. Every archer in India was trying to win it. We wanted to do it as soon as possible so that we can prepare for the Olympics.
“Step-by-step, we made a plan. We could not have made a proper plan until we won a quota. We knew that we had a good chance (to get a men’s team berth through the world rankings) after the first World Cup (in Shanghai in April). We focused on a plan, what new situations we can come up with, what we can learn.
“Luckily, we performed better in the first World Cup. We are taking it very positively. Anything can happen in the game. Anything is possible in the game, and we are deriving valuable lessons from our experiences, which is very beneficial.”
Dhiraj draws encouragement from his performance in the World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya, where he defeated Olympic silver medallist Mauro Nespoli of Italy to win an individual bronze, and later clinched a mixed team bronze with Bhajan Kaur, just weeks before the Olympics.
“I tried to give my best in the last tournament. Of course, I have confidence in myself. I don’t know what will happen (in the Olympics). But I believe in my training, I believe in my preparation.”
In competition, unexpected situations can arise, leading to wayward shots.
Despite his recent impressive results, Dhiraj possesses the maturity to prioritise team success. | Photo Credit: PTI
“It happens sometimes. The sport is unpredictable. Anything can happen. I missed shots in the Asian Games. I learned from that. There are situations that you don’t expect. We are preparing ourselves for unexpected situations. We have the capacity to face them. We play matches on the podium (the elevated stage). We share things with each other. We support each other. That’s how we form a team. All that comes from experience. Luckily, my fellow archers have participated in the Olympics. I learn a lot from them.
“Tarun bhaiya says, ‘You don’t have to think about what went wrong (with Indian archers) in the last Olympics.’ It’s a new experience for me. The situation is completely different. We talk about how we feel while competing. I feel that everything is normal.”
Jadhav, who participated in the Tokyo Olympics, offers a fresh perspective on the Indian team’s standing. “From the last two World Cups we came to know that all the other teams are careful about competing against India. You can see that in their body language. They play with a lot of preparation. It feels good to see that, but sometimes it goes wrong as they shoot extremely well,” he says.
The team, which collaborates with psychologist Gayatri Madkekar, understands the importance of maintaining a positive mindset. While Dhiraj struggles to articulate the impact of the psychologist’s role, Rai, one of Dhiraj’s idols, steps in like a true teammate.
“We get benefits from all the support staff. We know that they work for our medals. If you think bad about someone, even God will feel bad about you. Psychologically, if you are in a team, you don’t have to think bad about them. They don’t value you as soon as you think bad about them. The negativity comes from within. You have to avoid that.
“You don’t have to think it’s the Olympics. The pressure will kill you. Most first-timers make this mistake. If you treat it like the Olympics, you lose your balance. You have to make the path bigger so that you don’t have to keep balancing. Those who have maintained these two things will win (medals) in the Olympics,” says Rai, reflecting on his years of experience.
The Indian archers also gave positive feedback on their sessions with renowned Korean coach Kim Hyung Tak in Sonipat. “It was good. That’s why I trained again and again (with him). We are in our best version, we just have to implement it (in the Olympics),” says Dhiraj.
The 22-year-old appreciates that his father, Shravan Kumar (a technical official with the Archery Association of India), allows him to focus on his training. “I talk to him every day about my training. He has so much confidence in me that he doesn’t disturb me. He keeps an eye on me, though. He calls our (India) coach Sonam (Bhutia) sir and asks about the matches.
“He knows everything (about my game), but he never tells me. He just tells me to play my game. He knows how hard I work. I don’t have the pressure to win a medal.”
As the countdown to Paris 2024 begins, Dhiraj, an Asian Games team silver medallist, believes their plan to train in the French capital — where they had a successful camp before the 2023 World Championships in Berlin — will help them acclimate before competing in the Olympics starting July 24.
“I know the place where we are going to train. I went there last time too. It is very close to where the tournament is taking place. Because of that, we will benefit a lot from the acclimatisation. It’s (Paris) three-and-a-half hours behind us but we will adapt to that (as far as sleep cycles are concerned). We eat everything, so we will adapt to that as well. All the coaches have made the plans together.”
Like his teammates, Dhiraj maintains his regular routine, including watching his favourite web series to unwind, without altering anything for this significant moment in his life.
He understands that he cannot afford to be overawed by the grand stage, whether it’s the Games Village or the historic 17th-century venue Les Invalides, where the archers will aim for ultimate glory.
Dhiraj is determined to end India’s barren run in Olympic archery, hoping to make history with his arrows and his distinctive tri-coloured bow.
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