Nagoya, Her composure when taking aim belies her tender age but the child in Indian teen archery sensation Kumkum Mohod takes over when she puts her bow down and talks about giving up ice cream before the Asian Games and the challenge of holding on to her love for maths after historic twin gold medals here.
She also collected a mixed silver in what can easily be described as a brilliant Games debut. Icing on the cake was that she defeated her idol and former Olympic champion Kang Chaeyoung of Korea in the individual quarterfinals. The 17-year-old from Maharashtra, who won gold medals in the women’s and mixed team events of the World Cup this year, displayed sensational form to become the first Indian woman to claim an individual recurve gold at the Asiad after playing a stellar role in the team’s top finish on Friday. In Saturday’s final, Kumkum won the shoot-off against more fancied South Korean Oh Yejin 6-5, displaying tremendous poise under pressure.
“I love eating ice cream. I love the butterscotch flavour. With her individual gold, she has also ensured India a quota place at the Olympic Games. “Since childhood I have been dreaming big whether it is junior or senior doesn’t matter. The goal is to give my best, focus on the process and I did that only.
But I didn’t have it since I came here on September 11. Kumkum said she has always been a dreamer and after realising her goal of winning the Asian Games gold, she has now set her sights on finishing on the podium at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “I started dreaming big since 2020 when I played in the sub-junior Nationals. The dream was to make the national team and step by step, those goals became better with exposure and vision and now the vision is set on LA 2028.”
It was difficult but I had my goal in my mind,” she said after her historic win. I have been dreaming about playing in the Olympics,” Kumkum said.
“I am also not using my phone so at this point I don’t have communication with a lot of people around, it’s only with family and coaches and the team here,” added Kumkum, who also idolises Indian men’s squad star Dhiraj Bommadevara.
