Landing an hour before his event, Dhiraj returns with two medals
The archer did not get frazzled by the visa delay or the jetlag. On the contrary, he revelled in it.
Mumbai: For days leading up to the season-opening Archery World Cup in Florida, Dhiraj Bommadevara was gripped in uncertainty. Persistent delay over his US visa kept his participation hanging in the air. Once he did land in Florida after the visa belatedly arrived, the recurve qualification round on the afternoon of April 9 was one hour away.
Rushing straight from the airport to the venue in Auburndale and checking in after the scramble, the Paris Olympian checked out of the World Cup with an individual bronze medal to go with the men’s team silver.
From Wednesday’s qualification round in which he stood 6th as the top-scoring Indian, to Sunday’s bronze medal match in which he rallied to down Spain’s Andres Temino Mediel 6-4, Dhiraj did not get frazzled by the weeks of wait, hours of suspense and days of jetlag. On the contrary, he revelled in it.
“I just about made it for the start of the qualification round. It was an interesting situation for me, something I had never experienced before. I took it as a challenge, thinking, mazaa aayega (it will be fun),” Dhiraj said over phone before boarding his flight from Florida, this time in much calmer settings.
It wasn’t so much fun at the start when the visa finally came through and the Indian took off (most Indian women compound archers had to miss the event due to visa delay as their qualification round was a day earlier). Elite athletes diligently plan and prepare months in advance for a tournament like the World Cup. Here, every minute in this nearly-14,000km journey was precious, and each connecting flight had to be dot on time.
Only 90 minutes separated Dhiraj’s flight from New York to Florida, a short turnaround, which, if not for World Archery stepping in, the Indian might not have made it through. “World Archery had informed the transit officials, which helped quicken my transfer,” Dhiraj said.
Through all this mid-air and on-ground chaos, the 23-year-old found the calm in mentally preparing for and visualising his shooting, should he make it on time for the start.
“Half of my flight from India, I kept thinking about this tournament and was preparing myself mentally,” he said. “I knew even if I made it, it would be at the last minute, and so I had to be ready mentally.”
Dhiraj played a key part in the men’s team reaching the final, while also booking a place in the individual medal rounds on the last day. Across all days, he battled jetlag. “I’m still jetlagged,” he chuckled.
Hectic as it was, these two World Cup medals felt more satisfying in the end for the Asian Games medallist. “I now feel confident that I can face and handle any situation that comes my way in the future,” he said.
The week also gave a good head start to Dhiraj for the rest of the year, with the second leg of the World Cup slated in Shanghai next month. It will also ease him into the new season after the heartbreak of a fourth-place finish at last year’s Paris Olympics in the recurve mixed event.
“It’s a good beginning for the fresh Olympic cycle,” said Dhiraj who trains at the Army Sports Institute in Pune. “The main thing was not only the podium finish, but also the road to getting there. Every match along the way was tough.”
After losing the men’s team final to China and his individual semi-final to Paris Games silver medallist German Florian Unruh, Dhiraj showed fine composure against Mediel. After a tied first set, the Spaniard shot a couple of 10s to take the second. Dhiraj’s own couple of 10s kept him alive after a tied third set, but he was still staring at a 2-4 deficit.
That’s when Dhiraj hit clutch, firing five 10s including two Xs from his final six shots to sneak the fourth and fifth sets 29-28 and 30-29 and steal a gritty victory.
“I knew matches can turn anytime. At this stage, matches are determined by perfect scores, and my mindset was to just try and get the perfect score from my end,” he said. “I had to seize my chance.”
He did, from almost not making it to the tournament.
