Archery can earn an Olympic medal for India: Dola Banerjee

From etching her name in the tomes of history books by wining the World Cup, to the uncertainty hovering over her participation in Beijing Olympics- ace Indian archer Dola Banerjee has seen it all in the past one year. Having won the world title in 2007, she was being seen as one of the few Olympic medal hopes for the country. But a sudden slump in form, soon after her tryst with history, saw her world-ranking drop from 6th to 15th,, pushing her to the brink of missing an Olympic berth.

A timely recovery at the eleventh hour earned her the all-important Olympic ticket. As they say, form is temporary, class is permanent; the Bengal archer has all the talent in the world to shine at Beijing and win a medal, which would also be the first for India in the sport. In an exclusive interview with Zeenews.com’s Biswajit Jha, Dola Banerjee talks about her preparation for forthcoming Olympics, the reasons for her slump in form and other issues. Excerpts: How is your preparation for Beijing Olympics? I am practicing hard. We are presently having a national camp at Salt Lake, Kolkata where all the Beijing bound archers are working extremely hard. Does India stand any chance of winning an Olympic medal in archery? Though India has not won a medal in archery in Olympics, we definitely have a chance this time... Being a World Champion, can we expect a medal from you in Olympics? All I can say is that I will try my best… ….but one needs a bit of luck to win a medal in such big events, especially in the knock-out stages. The performance on a particular day is what matters. Winning a medal in Olympics will be a historic achievement for any sportsperson of India considering our poor record over the years in the event… I know that….it will be a huge thing… I have done well in other international tournaments…so I hope to do well in Beijing too…but at present I don’t want to pressurize my-self by thinking about all these things…What was the reason for your slump in form after winning the World Cup? Actually, this loss of form happens sometimes after reaching the peak…it’s not uncommon in sports…but it got highlighted because it occurred in an Olympic year. You must have been extremely tense during that lean phase…. I was …I could not find the reason why it happened to me….but I was determined to do well and go to Olympics…thank God I got my form back in time. What are the aspects of your game which you are looking to improve upon before Olympics? Presently, I am working on improving my mental strength…In today’s sports, mental aspects are as important as technical aspects…we have to coolly handle the pressure situation…another thing that is important in archery is concentration…I am also working on that. Who has been your inspiration all the while? Limba Ram. He is an icon of Indian archery. Everybody from our generation wants to emulate him. He encouraged me whenever I met him …he is a good human being. Who should get the credit for your success so far? It’s very difficult to name a single individual. Besides my parents, the Tata Archery Academy and Korean coach Lee Wang Woo have played a major role in shaping my career.
Is there any difference between Indian and foreign coaches? There is not much difference…the most important thing is to practice with good players…it raises the bar for performance, which eventually helps everybody. You hail from a family of singers….playback singer Shaan is your cousin….how come you chose archery as a career which is not a popular sport in India? Since Baranagar Archery Club is situated in front of my home, my parents used to send me there in the evenings so that I engaged in some kind of healthy exercise… To start with I, too, was not serious…but after I started winning medals at different levels, I started taking archery seriously. And music took the backseat…. It had to…I had been learning classical music from my childhood….but it could not be continued due to archery in which I was doing well. Do you have any regrets for that? No. I am happy with whatever I am doing at present.