How do you explain a rookie from Maharashtra's drought-hit town not just challenging but taking down the collective clout of an entire empire in which archery medals rain? How do you explain that empire, built medal by medal and Games after Games by champions after champions of women, getting shattered across a couple of days led by one baby-faced teenager? How do you explain an Asian Games debutant, after implosions and heartbreaks that defined Indian recurve archery at big stages, walking away as a champion with three medals as if it were child's play?
One word, perhaps, can make sense of it all: "bhook" (hunger).
When Kumkum Mohod accepted the mixed team silver on Friday with the gold in sight, despite the women's team gold in hand, she wasn't entirely satisfied. The "bhook" rose for what was to come on Saturday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Deep Dive
What motivated Kumkum Mohod to perform exceptionally at the Asian Games?
How did Kumkum Mohod achieve her historic win in recurve archery?
Why is Kumkum Mohod's victory significant for Indian archery?
"When I spoke to her on Friday evening, she told me, 'Sir, gold and Olympic quota went away. Tomorrow anyhow I have to win gold'," Prafull Dange, her coach, said. "Wohi bhook kaam kar gayi (That hunger did the work)."
Work that no male or female had ever done before in Indian archery history.
At 17, Kumkum became India's first recurve gold medallist at the Asian Games, and with it earned her country an Olympic quota for the 2028 LA Olympics.
She did so by defeating two South Koreans and multiple World Championships medal winners within a couple of hours on Saturday. Kang Chaeyoung, the reigning Worlds gold medallist, 6-4 in the quarter-final, China's Zhu Jingyi, the reigning Worlds silver medallist, 6-2 in the semi-final, and Oh Yejin, the 2023 world youth champion, in a rallying shoot-off victory in the final.
{{/usCountry}}She did so by defeating two South Koreans and multiple World Championships medal winners within a couple of hours on Saturday. Kang Chaeyoung, the reigning Worlds gold medallist, 6-4 in the quarter-final, China's Zhu Jingyi, the reigning Worlds silver medallist, 6-2 in the semi-final, and Oh Yejin, the 2023 world youth champion, in a rallying shoot-off victory in the final.
{{/usCountry}}As if to epitomise her Games, Kumkum won the fifth and final set from 5-3 down with a perfect 30 score. In the sudden death, after a nervy Oh dropped an 8, the ice-cool Kumkum pinned the X (inner 10).
Pin this kid's name among India's breakthrough young faces across multi-sport events. Pin it as the star of Indian archery's nine-medal show in Japan that pushed powerhouse Korea to No.2, and recurve's best-ever five-medal returns that Neeraj Chauhan capped by winning the men’s individual bronze. Pin it as India's only individual archery champion at the Asian Games, and India’s only individual gold medallist archer at these Games.
"The way she was shooting this past week, I was confident of a medal," said Dange. "I told her you will be known as a champion only if you win an individual gold."
From 2021 when the Amravati teen first picked up a wooden bow at Dange's academy, to when she started recurve in 2023—the year Korean women swept the Asian Games recurve title—Kumkum carried lofty ambitions.
"Since childhood I have been dreaming big, whether in junior or senior," she was quoted as saying by PTI in Aichi.
Dange also told her parents in 2024 that she had the talent to go places. "I told them that this girl can achieve big things," recalled Dange. "She just has to be regular, and disciplined."
After winning a World Cup gold in Shanghai in May, she turned up for training the next afternoon despite reaching home only the previous night. The teen is not on social media, and has promised her coach she won't sign up until she taps on an Olympic medal. No matter the festival, she doesn't skip training, even if it was "early Diwali", as Dange put it, in Amravati on Saturday. She enjoys reading books on the power of mind control.
"Before coming here, I used to visualise that if I face a shoot-off, I will hit X," Kumkum said.
That X broke the decades-long aura of invincibility around Korean archers in the discipline. It landed her to a place no Indian woman had even got close to (she is the first Indian woman medallist in individual recurve). It turned her “big” dreams into rapid reality.
New dreams, though, have been set by this deed. The Olympic quota was ticked off. The path to the Olympics has only begun.
“The real work starts now,” said Dange. “I’ve told her it is great to be on top once, but even better to remain there. She can enjoy today, but it all starts from zero tomorrow. Forget about being a champion.”
For now, remember Kumkum, the recurve champion.