“We know how much effort each other is putting into everything to win gold for the country, so that’s what matters most for me and also for our team. We are just thinking about what’s best for India.”
Whilst the wind was a tad calmer than it was yesterday for the compound archers at the world-class facility of the Gloria Sports Arena, Bommadevara and Mohod’s minds would have been racing with nerves before stepping onto the stage.
Although the 2025 Asian champion has significantly more experience competing on archery’s premier international circuit than 17-year-old Mohod, a mixed team gold medal match is still a heightened-pressure situation that he had yet to live, having previously only competed for bronze in the discipline at Shanghai and Antalya in 2024 – both of which he won alongside Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur.
Yet the entire Indian contingent that came to cheer huddled with the duo before the morning session began, offering encouragement, and that camaraderie has increased in recent times. It helped Bommadevara and Mohod on Sunday.
“For a long time, we were just a recurve team and the compound team was a little separate because of the timings and everything. But now it’s really fun.”
“We guys are hanging out in hotels, we are doing some recreational games and we are having a lot of regular team meetings in which we’re sharing our experiences with each other.”
“It’s not about recurve and compound, right?” added Bommadevara. “It’s about archery. It’s so fun to be with the whole team together, regardless of whether it’s recurve or compound, talking just about archery and how we can improve.”
Today, India’s togetherness worked, and for them it will hopefully do so at the 20th Asian Games too, where there is a strong possibility of facing Korea for medals in several events at Aichi-Nagoya.
Competition in Antalya concludes with the recurve individual finals this afternoon.
