How Indian Archers' quest for Olympic glory was unaffected by global lockdown

India has 29 states and encompasses a huge area, with each corner of the country separated by thousands of miles. So naturally, our athletes hail from different regions, with them flocking to the place of action for training purposes, because the infrastructure has been confined to a select number of areas. So when the pandemic struck, the situation was haywire for them, as they huffed and puffed to try and take the earliest flight back to their base, but not everyone managed to do that. The travel ban, the last-minute cancellation of flights and trains have denied many a passage back, leaving them stuck in alien territories.

“I was expecting to spend some time with my family, but that never happened, I haven’t been home for more than a year. And because of the Olympics I already informed my family that I wasn’t coming back before the Games. But with the Tokyo Games postponed, it was a great opportunity for me to spend some time with my family, it was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I missed that,” said Tarundeep Rai, during a chat with SportsCafe.

Like the proverbial glass was half-full, likewise, staying at the Army Institute has had a positive effect on the Tokyo-bound Archer. With training facilities and ranges at his disposal inside the perimeter, it ensured him unlimited practice hours throughout the lockdown phase. Detached from the outside world, Tarundeep’s surroundings inside the Institute still unchanged and his training regime, constant, with him sweating it out to bring back a medal in his third Olympics. But, one thing has changed for sure, the range is now haunted, with only a few Archers practising day in and out, because of the impact of the deadly virus.

Atanu Das

“Some of them have practice ground, which is the best privilege during lockdown. Some of them have targets at home (like me and Deepika) to just stay active during the lockdown. And at the same time some of them don’t have any privilege to shoot a single arrow during the lockdown. Which is very hard to maintain themselves. Of course, training at home and training at a proper outdoor is a huge different thing, which matters a lot. In my home I can only stay active in my sports,” said Atanu Das, from his Kolkata residence.

Although he feels that the current situation is faced everywhere, so there’s nothing to complain about and it should be accepted as a challenge. It was interesting how Atanu stressed on the fact that mental strength is very important during the one-of-a-kind unprecedented crisis, which he believes will help an athlete to recover once things get back to normal. But, he has always been in touch with his teammates and is eagerly waiting to get back to train together once again but till then he is keeping the ball rolling.

Pravin Jadhav

"My father works as a construction labourer and my mother takes up jobs as a farm help, but right now neither can go to work. Thankfully I was able to send them money through a friend's bank account for supplies. I owe it to my job in the army (havildar at 83 Armored regiment) which I found because of archery. Back in my village, there are no facilities to train at all. Being away from the sport even for a week really brings my whole level down to zero. It's why I go home scarcely," said Pravin Jadhav, as reported by ESPN.

Meanwhile, in Pune, his training regime is intact with him sparring against veteran-cum-teammate Tarundeep Rai, with the range always at their disposal. To him, there could not have been any better place to get stranded than the Army Institute, in Pune, during the lockdown. In accordance with the social distancing norms, Pravin shoots around 300 arrows per day and is expecting to reach the target between 500-600 shots per day soon. 

There’s no doubt that the pandemic has disrupted normalcy amongst the Indian athletes, but what’s interesting is that they’ve still managed to stay active even when odds are heavily stacked against them. With the Olympics pushed by a year, their aspirations haven't taken a blow, nor has it dwindled by an inch. Their commitment to the game remains constant, come what may. They are keeping the hopes alive of 1.4 billion people when the greatest sporting event takes place, in Tokyo, hopefully, in 2021.