Making of champion: Teen archer Kumkum Mohod story of focus
Young, academically inclined, confident, and wary of the social media razzmatazz. History-making teenage Indian archer Kumkum Mohod has been described as obsessive about her craft by those who have witnessed her growth from the time she first picked up the bow as a nine-year-old. The 17-year-old prodigy from Maharashtra’s Amravati scripted history in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Saturday when she defeated South Korea’s Oh Ye-Jin to win India’s first-ever women’s individual recurve archery gold medal at the mega-event. She also clinched an Olympic quota place for the country with her gold.
That his soft-spoken and studious student would return with three medals (gold in individual and women’s team and a silver in mixed team) from her first Asian Games was something that did not surprise her coach Prafull Dange, who knew she would do something special.
“Yes, yes, definitely. Sau takka (100 per cent). There was no doubt in it,” Dange told PTI when asked if he anticipated what Kumkum would achieve in the Asiad.
“I felt that, but just that I did not mention it to anyone, but I did think about admitting it once it was done. What’s the point in telling anyone beforehand?” he said.
Kumkum has been training at Dange’s Radhey Archery Academy in Amravati. A quiet girl who loves to know anything and everything about her sport, Kumkum has bigger goals already set in her mind. “Almost every day, she tells me that it is my commitment to you that I want to win the Olympic medal for you,” Dange said.
“I also feel proud to be working with such kids and I consider myself lucky to have got such supportive parents and players. Today’s medal is also like a booster dose for a coach, which everyone needs, to work with more energy and motivation. That Kumkum and her coach have an Olympics medal as target was also confirmed by the Maharashtra Archery Association secretary Pramod Chandurkar.
“Our staff is firmly behind her. This was our first target - to qualify for the Olympics. We can only dream of winning the Olympics medal after we qualify, for which we have planned for years,” Chandurkar said.
