Chasing perfect 10

Rohit Mahajan in Paris

The Netherlands’ Quinty Roeffen, 18 years old but looking like 16, can’t stop gushing over her conqueror from India. “Oh, Kumari! She’s a great archer,” says Quinty. “I know about her! She’s competing in her fourth Olympics. I watched a documentary about her, I admire her. It was a privilege to shoot against her, unfortunately I lost.”
Deepika Kumari, the object of the young Quinty’s awe, grins happily when she learns the kid she beat is her fan — it’s not every day that your opponent watches a documentary about you before competing against you at the Olympics.
Quinty, unfortunately, crumbled under pressure after beginning strongly — she had a 9, 9, 10 in the first set, but Deepika won the set and two points for it by hitting bullseye twice — 10, 10, 9.
Quinty then turned the tables — 10, 10, 9 against Deepika’s 9, 9, 9; the rookie had tightened the screws on the veteran, the score was tied 2-2.
Quinty, sensing an opportunity against the fabled Kumari, couldn’t control the throbbing of her heart. “I felt the pressure and became nervous,” she said later.
The teenager fumbled, the arrow didn’t fly off the string, there was no thud on the board that stood 70 metres away — Quinty registered a 0. That broke her, Deepika won the set easily and led 4-2. In the fourth set, Deepika shot 10, 9, 9; Quinty had 7, 6, 10, and it was all over for her.
How did the poor girl explain that brilliant final shot that earned her 10 full points? “I knew I had lost the match and I was no longer nervous. I was fearless. I nothing to lose.”
Hopelessness made her brave; it’s hope that makes an archer or a shooter nervy and unsteady and fearful — as in sport, so in life.
Deepika herself could feel her heart leaping to her mouth in the previous match, the Round of 64 encounter with Reena Parnat. Some brilliant and some average shooting by Deepika, and the score was 3-3 after the third set; Deepika then began with a 7 in the fourth set, which Reena took for a 5-3 lead. Deepika’s response? A perfect set — 10, 10, 10 for 5-5, and a shootoff to decide the winner. Deepika hit 9 and Reena 8 — the Indian managed to evade a knockout blow.
“My heart was throbbing, my heartbeat was very rapid,” said Deepika. She says in her sport, she’s competing only against herself: “You’re trying your best to get 30 points, which is the maximum you can get in a set (three shots each). You’re fighting against yourself.” The opponent doesn’t thwart you physically — she does it mentally. “What happens is that your opponent gets a 10, you’re motivated to shoot a 10, too. And that makes you nervous. That makes your heart race. I had to tell myself to keep calm, follow the processes.”
Breathe in. Pause. Breathe out. Pause. Repeat. Shoot.
Deepika was able to do that today. She must do this again two days later, when she meets Germany’s Michelle Kroppen, winner of bronze at Tokyo 2020, in the pre-quarterfinals. The same day, Bhajan Kaur, the-18-year old from Haryana, would take on Diananda Choirunisa in the pre-quarterfinals.
“Do pray for me!” says Deepika as she flexes the right arm to show her tattoo, the image of a woman with a bow and quiver of arrows on her back. “Do pray!”