Archer Komalika Bari first caught the eye after her stellar rise as a promising junior at the world level.
Like Deepika Kumari a decade earlier, Komalika won the cadet (2019) and junior world championships (2021). However, Bari struggled to find her feet on the senior circuit.
The trio of Deepika, Bari and Ankita Bhakat failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, despite raising hopes on the back of some solid performances during the world cup stages.
The 20-year-old is still getting used to the pressure of competing at the highest level and hopes to be at her best next year to qualify for the Paris Olympics. Besides making some changes to her technique, Bari is working to develop her mental strength as well.
“The world cup season did not go well and I have to improve my confidence level. I was dejected. I will be working on that,” says Bari. “There is always a bit of pressure once you reach the top level because I have reached that level where good performance is expected out of me.
The challenge would be to maintain my position and improve. Now, every small win and loss is important to me. Working with a psychologist has helped me focus on the present and get swayed by the results.”
“My psychologist tells me to focus on my process and not on results. If I do that, I will remain in the present and automatically the results will come.”
In that respect, Bari is happy she could follow this strategy at the National Games in Ahmedabad, where she won silver in the team event and bronze in the mixed team. At the Archery World Cup Stage 4 in Colombia in July, she had lost in the second round.
Before that Bari was ousted in the first round in Gwangju, and faced another second-round defeat in Antalya. At the Asian Championships last year, she lost in the quarter-finals, but did well to win gold in the mixed team with Paras Hooda.
“After Colombia, I got some time to work on my game and the National Games was an opportunity to assess myself and I think I am on the right path. The competition was at a good level and we missed the gold in team event in shoot-off to Haryana. Yes, I could have done better in the individual competition.”
Her coach Purnima Mahato of TATA Academy in Jamshedpur says she is still a work in progress.
“Her performance is still not stable,” admits Purnima.
“She has to work hard and she is improving. But her level has to go up otherwise at the world level it will be difficult with the kind of scores she is getting now. She is very capable. We have made some changes in her technique a bit and it will take some time to get settled,” adds Purnima.
“The Paris Olympics qualification cycle starts next year and it will be tougher this time because of changes they have made. We have to be ready for that.”