Madhura Dhamangaonkar won three medals at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai on Saturday, the highlight being an individual gold to go with a silver in the women’s team event and a bronze in the compound mixed team event alongside Abhishek Verma, to make it a remarkable return to international competition after three years. Madhura, 24, trailed USA’s Carson Krahe 81-85 before eventually winning 139-138.
In Amravati, Shailendra Dhamangaonkar, Madhura’s father was a proud man. Madhura’s younger sister Shalaka is a professional swimmer. “When both my daughters were young, the reason I put them into sports was to make them excel and win medals for India and bring glory to the country. As Madhura won three medals in the World Cup in Shanghai, seeing the Indian flag rise high was a special feeling for us amid the conflict,” Dhamangaonkar told The Indian Express.
Madhura enrolled at the Shree Hanuman Vyayam Prasark Mandal for archery coaching in 2011. She then trained with coach Ganesh Vishwakarma at a local school. Like most archers, Madhura started with a wooden bow and it was in 2012 that her father got her a new recurve bow.
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Indian compound archery contingent with the medals in Shanghai. (Special arrangement. )
“I knew archery can be an expensive sport, but then me and my wife Anjali have always done whatever we could for our daughters. I got Madhura her first recurve bow in 2012 and she trained in recurve till 2017. When she decided to shift to the compound, she herself told us to donate that bow to a needy person. I then arranged money from my relatives and friends to get her a new compound bow worth Rs 1,80,000,” the proud father recalled.
Shifting to compound events would see Madhura start training under coach Pawan Tambat at the Gurukul academy in Amravati. The youngster would make her debut for the Indian team in the Asia Cup Stage 3 Ranking tournament in 2018 before she faced another hurdle. “In 2019, her two-year-old compound bow broke. The same year, her elder sister was also to get married. So I once again asked my relatives and friends for financial help and got her another bow,” Dhamangaonkar said.
Three years ago Madhura made it to the Indian team for the Archery World Cup Stage 4, where she lost in the second round in individual and in the quarterfinal in women’s team event where she paired up with Pragati and Shrishti Singh. In 2023, Madhura would shift to Satara to train under coach Pravin Sawant. She would practice along with compatriot and 2023 world champion Aditi Swami.
“When she came to train under me, she faced some issues in her technique. Her shoulder used to bend and I got her changed from Hoyt bow to PSE bow as it suited her body structure well. Her upper body line and back position were also adjusted according to the new bow and she would shoot with the poundage drawing weight of 52-53 Kg. There was a phase where she struggled with her form and I asked her to start from basics with the wooden bow. She showed no hesitation in that,” coach Sawant recalled.
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In the final, Madhura took a four-point lead against Carson Krahe of USA with a perfect 30 after the first set before two 8s and a nine. The archers were tied at 55-55, then a low seven on her last shot coupled with a 10 and nine in the third set saw Madhura trailing Karahe by four points. A ten and an inner ten along with a nine saw her level with Karahe before the Indian shot a nine and two inner tens to win the match 139-138.
“Madhura knows how to use the balance in the air to counter her body weight and body posture. Today the conditions were very windy here. That was the reason for the fluctuation in scores. During the last set, I told her not to worry about the ten but just to focus on the yellow ring. While one makes adjustments like shooting towards left if the wind is towards right or vice versa, sometimes the pressure of hitting a ten sees an archer taking longer time. So the key for her was not to worry about ten in windy conditions,” national coach and Dronacharya Awardee Jiwanjot Singh Teja said.
Madhura also paired up with Abhishek to win the mixed team bronze with a 144-142 win over the Malaysian pair of Fatin Salleh and Mohammad Mazuki. While the trio of Madhura, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Chikitha Taniparthi lost 222-234 against the trio of Andrew Becerrra, Adriana Castillo and Mariana Bernal of Turkey in the compound women’s final, the men’s compound team of Abhishek Verma, Rishabh Yadav and Ojas Deotale won the gold with a 232-228 win over the Mexican team of Rodrigo Gonzalez, Sebastian Garcia and Luis Lezama.
Yadav also won his first individual World Cup bronze with a 145-145 (win via shoot-off) win over Kim Jongho of South Korea, With the compound mixed team being part of the LA Olympics, Teja sees the tough competition in team events as an advantage. “I can say all the team events or individual events see 5-6 archers of almost the same class. So winning medals in team events too prepares them mentally for the mixed team event where the format is the same. It has taken us a long time to be in the top three countries in compound and maintaining the consistency will be key ahead,” coach Teja said.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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