Mumbai: Neeraj Chauhan was on the verge of going to the Asian Games three years ago, only to lose out on a re-trial. The recurve archer had competed in eight World Cups and one World Championships, only to return without any to show.
The constant blanks made Chauhan turn to his teammate and senior, Dhiraj Bommadevara, with a question after the Indian men’s team lost to USA in the Madrid World Cup quarter-finals in July. “When will I get on the podium? Chauhan recalled.
Dhiraj told him that his moment would come “sahi time pe, sahi jagah pe (at the right time, at the right place).”
Chauhan checked out of his first Asian Games with two medals — a men’s team silver alongside Dhiraj and Yashdeep Bhoge, and an individual bronze as only the second Indian man to win an Asian Games individual recurve medal after Tarundeep Rai in 2010. After the duck was broken with the team silver, the 24-year-old, the youngest member of the men’s squad, went on a fine individual run. Chauhan took down South Korea’s Kim Je-deok, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, in the pre-quarterfinals and Dhiraj, the world No.4 and recently crowned World Cup Finals champion, in the bronze medal contest after coming back from two sets down.
“Honestly, I did not go in with any expectations. “We (Dhiraj and him) had hoped to compete with each other in the final. Next time, hopefully, we will do that.”
I just knew that I wanted to get on that podium,” Chauhan told HT from Hyderabad, where he is competing in the Archery Premier League (APL). “I wasn’t able to hear or speak anything after that moment,” said the archer from Meerut.
“My family never let me feel a shortage of anything. “Even if that thought did cross my mind, my family never let me do that. They kept pushing me. “Now that I look back at it, I feel like life will make you go through many ups and downs. But it is important to keep at it and not give up.”
Even at a time when putting food on the table twice a day was proving to be a challenge, my parents did not tell me to stop practice,” Chauhan said. So I realised that if they are supporting me so much, why should I stop?” said Chauhan.
