Deepika Kumari won three gold medals in individual, mixed, and team events at the 2021 Archery World Cup held in Paris in June. She is currently the top-ranked woman archer in Recurve in the world. She is without an iota of doubt one of India’s brightest medal prospects in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020.

It is not for the first time that she is going to shoulder such sky-high expectations at the quadrennial showpiece event. Since rising to prominence as a teenager at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 Kumari has bagged many awards in a host of international competitions. But an Olympic medal has alluded her, so far.

She suffered a first-round exit at London 2012 where she made her Olympics debut. The Ranchi-born archer managed to reach the last 16 stages in Rio 2016 in the individual event and lost against Russia in the quarterfinals in the team event.

“ Deepika didn’t know how to handle pressure”

Incidentally, it was in 2012 when Kumari reached the peak of world rankings for the first time. She also won her first gold medal at the Archery World Cup in the same year. But nerves, tough windy conditions, and health issues made things complicated in London.

“ Deepika was very young during the London Olympics. She had a chance of winning a medal in London and Rio as well. I think it was due to pressure or I would say the pressure of winning a medal. Everyone feels pressure. The Olympics is a different ballgame altogether. You just need to focus and not take any pressure. Deepika didn’t know how to handle pressure. She had mental issues in the initial stages of her career just like every archer and sportsperson”, said Dola Banerjee, former Indian archer in interaction with Times of India.

The 27-yer-old has won an impressive 9 gold, 12 silver, and 7 bronze medals in the Archery World Cup. She achieved the Olympic quota for the Tokyo Games at the Continental Qualification Tournament in 2019.

A chance to achieve the rare feat of multiple medals in Tokyo

This time Kumari will once again enter the games as world number 1. Banerjee stressed that winning three gold medals ahead of the Olympics is a huge thing.

“ Her confidence is sky-high. She has a very good chance of winning medals in the Olympics this time in both the individual and mixed team events”, Banerjee who has competed with Kumari in the past, was quoted as saying.

For the first time in the history of the Olympics, a mixed team event in archery will be held in Tokyo. Kumari apart from being a strong contender in the women’s individual recurve event will team up with hubby Atanu Das in the mixed team event and eye for a medal. The married couple had won the gold in the 2021 Archery World Cup.

History beckons the lone Indian woman archer to represent India in Tokyo 2020

Kumari is the only woman archer who will represent India in Tokyo. The Indian archery contingent also comprises Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav besides her husband Das.

India has never won a medal in archery in Olympics. On July 23rd, 2021 when Kumari will pick up the bow and arrow at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo everything that has happened in the past will mean nothing.

History beckons the girl who hails from Ratu village in Jharkhand at the biggest sporting spectacle on earth. She will be more determined than ever to write a glorious new chapter in Indian sports. The prayers of a billion Indians will be with her.