Rahul’s philosophy is clear – enjoy playing archery rather than thinking about just winning medals.
“They are elite players, so the coaching approach has been very different,” said the 38-year-old. “We did a lot of gap analyses and kept things flexible – if one idea doesn’t work then we switch to another.”
“The work is on overall aspect of their game – right from their lifestyle, diet, fitness, equipment, psychological and technical. We are even trying new strategies during tournaments and that’s working for both Deepika and Atanu,” Banerjee added.
The married couple showed immediate results within just a few months of following former international’s coaching regime.
Das won a medal at the national ranking tournament before taking bronze in the recurve men’s event at the Swiss Open Lausanne indoor event in November.
Kumari, who also joined her husband in Kolkata to train, claimed a silver at the Tlaxcala 2024 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in October. The former top-ranked Indian defeated two Paris 2024 Olympic medallists, Xiaolei Yang and Alejandra Valencia, on her way to the gold medal match, months after faltering in the quarterfinals at those Games.
Das and Kumari together went on to win a mixed team gold medal at their national championships in Jamshedpur in December, and just days later made the cut for India’s senior team.
“The best takeaway was when Deepika told me that more than the result she enjoyed shooting after a long time,” concluded Rahul Banerjee, eager to see the duo end their long wait.
