ഏഷ്യൻ ഗെയിംസ് ആർച്ചറിയിൽ വ്യക്തിഗത റിക്കർവ് ഇനത്തിൽ സ്വർണം നേടുന്ന ആദ്യ ഇന്ത്യൻ താരമായി മഹാരാഷ്ട്രയിൽ നിന്നുള്ള പതിനേഴുകാരി കുങ്കുമം മോഹോദ് മാറി. ഫൈനലിൽ ദക്ഷിണ കൊറിയൻ താരത്തെ അട്ടിമറിച്ചാണ് താരം ചരിത്രനേട്ടം കൈവരിച്ചത്. ഈ വിജയത്തോടെ 2028 ലോസ് ഏഞ്ചൽസ് ഒളിമ്പിക്സിലേക്കുള്ള യോഗ്യതയും കുങ്കുമം ഉറപ്പിച്ചു. മൂന്ന് മെഡലുകളുമായാണ് താരം മടങ്ങുന്നത്.
India's Kumkum Anil Mohod (Image: REUTERS)
OKAZAKI At the Asian Games, Kumkum Mohod has had very little to do with the world outside her competition. She has stayed off social media, had limited access to her phone and used it mainly to communicate with her parents. On Friday, she sent a picture of her medals to her father, Anil. His response was immediate: “There is a medal missing in this photo.” Typical of Indian fathers, he was reminding her of the task at hand. Like an obidient daughter then, the 17-year-old from Maharashtra completed the picture. On Saturday at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Gymnasium, she also wrote a slice of history that India — and South Korea — will remember for a long time. Kumkum became the first Indian to win an individual recurve archery gold at the Asian Games and, in the process, secured an Olympic quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. She finished her campaign with three medals: individual gold, women’s team gold and mixed team silver. Earlier, the trio of Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma and Kumkum shattered South Korea’s dominance in the team event to claim their maiden gold. In the quarterfinals, Kumkum defeated Kang Chae-young 6-4. Kang, the 2025 individual world champion, was the favourite against an Indian prodigy who had qualified 10th. But Kumkum offered more than a glimpse of what was to come. In the semifinals, she swept aside China’s Jingyo Zhu 6-2. The final frontier was another Korean, Oh Ye-jin. And this time, Kumkum had to fight her way back.
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Oh took the opening set 29-27 and then moved 3-1 ahead. Kumkum responded with a perfect 30, only to follow it with consecutive 8s. Kumkum found her rhythm, produced a perfect 30 and forced the final into a shoot-off. One arrow now separated her from history. Oh shot an 8. Kumkum drew, aimed and released. A perfect 10. The shy 17-year-old had just done what no Indian recurve archer had done before at the Asian Games. A teenager who surprisingly enjoys listening to sad songs reserved those for the Koreans, for the Indians, she ensured there was only celebratory music.