Dola Banerjee remembers the events she got to compete in, as she prepared for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Those tune-up events were few and far between, as she became the first Indian woman to qualify for the individual women’s recurve archery event at the Games.

Now, two decades later, as Deepika Kumari leads the Indian archery contingent in Paris at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the six-member team has been a constant presence at international tournaments and have had sufficient competitive experience, including the Asian Games in September 2023.

This, to Banerjee, is the biggest difference that she has noticed since she retired from the sport in 2015.

“At that time, when we had pain, we just had to shoot through it,” said Banerjee in an interaction with Scroll. “But now the players are exposed to so many international events and have lots of support staff.”

Acknowledging the improvement that has been made in the sport since her playing days, Banerjee was also on hand to witness the dominance of Indian compound archers at the delayed Asian Games last year, as the deputy Chef de Mission.

With India winning gold in all five compound events along with a bronze, the recurve team’s efforts – a silver medal in the men’s team event and a bronze in the women’s team event – pales in comparison.

But at the Olympics, since recurve archery is the only event in the sport, Banerjee believes that confidence is key.

“There are very good teams like South Korea, China and Japan,” explained Banerjee, 44.

“But the first shot is very important in all the events, it sets the tone for the rest of the match. Almost 50% of the time, we end up losing the match against opponents like this because of the mental aspect.”

Dhiraj Bommadevara, who will be competing in Paris, had explained to this publication that external conditions are not in the archers’ control. Preparation, instead, has to be focused on mental training.

“Our archers need to fight against the fear that comes with competing against the South Koreans,” said Banerjee, referring to the powerhouse East Asian country that has dominated the sport at the Olympics in every edition since 1988.

“If they are capable of shooting perfect 10s, we are capable too.”

The Indian men’s team showcased a glimpse of this fearlessness when they beat South Korea in the first Archery World Cup stage in Shanghai earlier this year to win gold. Two of the three members of the South Korean team had won gold in Tokyo 2020.

Deepika Kumari’s comeback

Returning to the national team for the Olympics is former world No 1 Kumari, who was away on maternity break.

Banerjee has a long-standing bond with Kumari, with whom she won the team gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The two regularly chat in between competitions and Banerjee has seen Kumari grow from a 16-year-old rookie to a confident 30-year-old veteran.

When Kumari stepped away from the sport on maternity leave, there was concern about whether the Jharkhand-native would be able to return to the physically-demanding sport the same as before.

Banerjee explained that this doubt was in Kumari’s mind as well. Add to that, the break came in the lead-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics, when most archers would be sharpening their skills in different competitions and chasing that elusive quota spot.

“I spoke to her [Kumari] about 10-15 days after her delivery and asked her how she was doing,” recalled Banerjee.

“She was already training at the Sports Authority of India centre in Kolkata and figuring out a plan to start attending trials. But at the same time, she was very worried about her new-born daughter and how she was going to take care of her and train for the trials.

“After delivering a baby, your body changes and it becomes difficult to keep up with all the equipment and training. But Deepika has always been such a hard-working girl,” she added.

Kumari proved her senior’s words right as she surged back into the competitive circuit, winning two medals at the 2023 National Games. Her first international medal after the break came in the first World Cup stage in Shanghai in April, winning silver in the women’s individual event.

Banerjee also stressed the importance of having a senior like Kumari in the women’s team alongside the likes of younger archers Bhajan Kaur, 18, and Ankita Bhakat, 26, both of whom are making their Olympic debuts.

While the women’s team had struggled to make the Paris cut, it was Kaur who ended up winning an individual quota in the last qualifying event in June before the women’s team secured the team quota through rankings.

Experienced leaders

Alongside Kumari, 40-year-old Tarundeep Rai will be the senior in the men’s team, competing in his fourth Olympics as well. Banerjee highlighted how the experience of both Kumari and Rai, including their many accomplishments, will help to guide the juniors in both teams.

“The knowledge that is given from the senior to the junior is very important,” said Banerjee.

“You need to motivate the junior players and help them if they end up making mistakes. I am happy that both Deepika and Tarundeep will be there to guide their juniors and keep them calm.”

Bommadevara had acknowledged the impressive results of the Indian compound squad and highlighted how things are also slowly changing for Indian recurve archery.

“We only had two-three medals in the whole [2023 season] in recurve, [but] in 2017-18, we had only one medal,” Bommadevara had said. “And in between, we used to get only one medal from Deepika.”

The archery scene in India has changed since then. Bommadevara himself has contributed with a few medals, as have Kaur and Bhakat. This is a new-look Indian team that will be travelling to Paris. Perhaps, there will be a pleasant change in their returns from the Olympics.

The archery events at the 2024 Paris Olympics will be held from July 25 to August 4.

Indian archery contingent

Men’s Recurve

Dhiraj Bommadevara

Tarundeep Rai

Pravin Jadhav

Women’s Recurve

Bhajan Kaur

Deepika Kumari

Ankita Bhakat