Boria Majumdar in Paris
Pressure. Perhaps the most used word when it comes to sport. Everyone who has played sport will tell you there is always pressure. From fans, parent bodies, sponsors, family and, most importantly, from yourself. At the end of the day, a sportsperson is alone grappling with her or his own mind. A mind that is full of clutter and constantly fighting to be freed. Of all the thoughts that keep flooding in, of the possibilities that keep disturbing the equilibrium and, finally, all the hope and expectation of what might be.
It is not easy. Never is. But that’s what separates men from the boys and women from the girls. The team that wins from others who are good but not the best. It all boils down to pressure.
We will all have to agree that during the Olympics, the Indians did not handle pressure too well. Take the Lakshya Sen match against Lee Zii Jia, for example. A game up and 8-3 up, Sen should have been in cruise mode. He got himself under pressure, and went on to lose the match and the medal. Arjun Babuta fired one bad shot and that was when he was within sniffing distance of making the podium.
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Avani Lekhara must have felt huge pressure when she was tied for first place at 229.3 going into the last two shots of the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 final. In fact, all the pressure must have been on Avani, for she was the one defending her Tokyo gold. Maybe that’s why she shot a 9.9 and the Korean, Lee Yun-ri, with a superb 10.7, opened up a 0.8 point lead going into the final shot. For me, it was all but over.
But the moment the lead was established, the pressure moved to Lee. Now, she was firm favourite for the gold. In fact, just a shot away. The most important shot of her life. Avani, on the other hand, was freed up. She was now able to empty her mind of clutter and fire a decent 10.5 with her final shot. It meant Lee needed 9.7 to close things out for gold. Even the most ardent Indian supporter didn’t give Avani a chance. She needed a miracle to happen.
And truth be told, she got one. Under intense pressure, Lee shot a 6.8. How and why, she will forever ask herself. But the truth is she did. For once, it was the Korean who felt the pressure and not Avani. It is not just applicable to India, but the best of athletes from other countries also feel pressure. Lee is an example. Her below-par final shot meant Avani retained her gold and also broke her own Paralympic record.
I asked Avani about the last shot. “I was actually focussing on my own shot,” she told me. “I needed to get it right to have a chance. And after that, I was just praying to God that things should fall in place for me. It did, and I won the gold. Later on, I heard that my opponent had shot a 6.8.”
Call it luck or call it pressure, the dice rolled in Avani’s favour yesterday. And now, she is a double Paralympic gold medallist. Lee, on the other hand, will forever think about what went wrong. And how. Maybe it will help her get better and continue her quest for excellence.
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