NEW DELHI: A father sold cardboard sweet boxes in a tiny shop in Amravati. Another awoke at 4 am to deliver milk door to door in Kolkata. The third worked his small farmland in Jind. All three parents backed their daughters’ sporting dreams, defying doubt and social pressures.On Friday, at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square, the daughters repaid that faith with a gift beyond price. The seasoned Ankita Bhakat, the unheralded Kirti Sharma and 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod did what India had never done — beat 10-time Olympic champions South Korea 5-3 for the country’s first-ever Asian Games gold in women’s recurve team archery.The significance was immense. Korea had won every women’s team recurve title since 1998 and arrived with Tokyo Olympic champion Kang Chae-young, alongside Oh Ye-jin and Lee Yunji. India, which had never even reached the Asian Games final in this event, first beat China 5-1 in the semifinals.The final needed nerves of steel. Both sides drew the opening two sets, 54-54 and 56-56, before Korea faltered with three successive 8s in the third. India shot 55 to move 4-2 ahead. Korea answered with 54 in the fourth but Kirti’s opening 8 was upgraded to 9 on review, lifting India to 54 and sealing the draw — and the gold.“We can’t describe our feelings in words. This medal is not only for us but for our parents, their sacrifices and our country too,” Kirti said. Ankita, who had endured years of hardship before becoming a veteran of the recurve circuit, said the team had trained for such pressure”. Kumkum summed up her astonishing composure, saying, “I always visualised this, and now it’s happened. It’s part of the process.”Behind the triumph were very different struggles. Kumkum began in 2018 with a bamboo bow; her grandmother financed a Rs 3,000 wooden upgrade, while her father later got her a second-hand recurve bow that she has used for years.
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Kirti’s farming family borrowed a Rs 60,000 loan for her first recurve bow, even as relatives questioned spending on a daughter’s sporting career. Initially considered too thin to handle a professional bow, she later topped the national trials.Ankita spent six years shooting wooden and bamboo bows before obtaining proper recurve equipment, with left-handed gear particularly difficult to find. She later began using prize money won during competitions to support her father’s modest income and family.The day produced more archery silver medals for India. Kumkum later combined with Dhiraj Bommadevara, but the duo lost 3-5 to China in the mixed recurve final after beating Japan 5-3 in the semifinals. Dhiraj, Yashdeep Bhoge and Neeraj Chauhan then lost the men’s recurve final 1-5 to Korea, after beating Iran 6-0 in the last four to settle for runners-up finish.For Kumkum, the competition is not over: she next turns to the individual event on Saturday. For India, however, the golden arrow has already landed — in history.
