Gold medal is the culmination of all the hard work, says Dhiraj
He got fascinated with archery as a ve-year-old after listening to Ramayana and Mahabharata. Now at 23, Dhiraj Bommadevara has every reason to feel proud after having clinched his maiden gold in a World Cup when he combined with Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav to clinch the honours in the men’s recurve team event of the just-concluded World Cup Stage I in Shanghai.
“It was a special moment as it was my rst World Cup gold and importantly, we beat Olympics champion South Korea in the nal,” said Dhiraj in an exclusive interview with The Hindu on Tuesday.
Dhiraj with parents Shrawan and Revathi.
“The gold medal is the culmination of all the hard work, planning and team eort. The positivity around the squad, including that of the support, was contagious. There was never a moment when anyone felt bad about anyone else not doing well,” Dhiraj said.
“Since we are all from the Services, the understanding, coordination and the way we kept our communication channels open helped us a lot. Everytime we entered the competition, we didn’t bother about the opposition and took quick decisions. Our focus was on what best we could do and we are glad we pulled it o,” the Vijayawada-based archer said. “The emphasis was not on the end-result but on the process and how best we could keep improving.”
Dhiraj, who trained at the Cherukuri Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada from 2006-2018 before joining the Indian Army, is hopeful of making the cut for the Paris Olympics later this year.
“We are conscious of not peaking too early before the Olympics. We want to take it step by step because we are aware that we have a very good chance of winning an Olympic medal. We don’t want to stress ourselves too much,” the World Cup gold medallist said as he thanked Sports Authority of India, Services, Archery Federation of India and Olympic Gold Quest.