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Journalism of Courage
A day before her final showdown at the third stage of the Archery World Cup at Ogden,USA,Deepika Kumari was pumped up,knowing she had a shot at completing a hat-trick of gold medals. The pep talk,led by chief coach Limba Ram and recurve coach Purnima Mahto,focussed on how she had been the most consistent among the Indian archers and how she should continue in the same vein. But not even in her wildest dreams did Deepika think that she would finish second best in all three finals womens recurve team,mixed and individual. But Saturday ended up a nightmare for the wondergirl of Indian archery.
Deepika first lost the team gold,partnering Laishram Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro to Ukraines trio of Nina Mylchenko,Kateryna Palekha and Kateryna Yarovska 213-210. This despite leading the final in the the two-arrow format twice. While the womens final was a close affair,an unavoidable error cost her from taking first place in the mixed final with Jayanta Talukdar. Talukdar couldnt shoot his last arrow after Deepika had consumed too much of the 20 seconds allotted to the duo to shoot two arrows in a round. And finally,in the individual recurve final,the 17-year-old couldnt get past Chinas Ming Cheng after matching her shot to shot till the third set. But the more experienced Chinese archer won the gold eventually 6-2.
But she took full responsibility for the embarrassment that followed in the mixed event where Talukdar couldnt fire his arrow. That was my mistake. I took lot more time than I should have to fire my arrow she had to dismount her arrow because of strong winds and Jayanta bhai had only 8 seconds left to mount his arrow and shoot, she said.
Overall,this was a big opportunity lost for the Indian team. Never before had they been in contention for four gold medals. On Sunday,they will hope that their luck in the title clashes changes during the compound womens team final,where Jhano Hansdah,Gagandeep Kaur and Manjudha Soy will take on the USAs Erika Anschutz,Christie Colin and Jamie van Natta.
And understandably,recurve coach Purnima Mahto expressed mixed feelings. We had to console Deepika after the team final. She is a kid and the close loss against Ukraine hit her bad. She was crying all the time and immediately after the loss she had to take to the field in the mixed event. So it was difficult. Everybody in the team is so shocked,I couldnt sleep well wondering what went wrong, she said of the teams mood.
We could have easily won two gold medals here in womens team event and as well as the mixed event. Like in previous World Cups,we may come back with a solitary gold. And now we will return with so many silver medals,which is good,but8230; This was a chance to change that but we couldnt do it, she added.
Worse,the Indian mens recurve team comprising Talukdar,Thupuvoyi Swuro and Viswash lost the bronze medal match to Ukraine 213-210. The team had two new faces and understandably nerves got better of them,especially Viswash. But overall,neither I nor anybody can find fault with the performance, Mahto said. Lets hope Sunday ends well for us.
