Archery: Colombia's World No. 1 Sara Lopez is the 'invisible' coach of Trisha Deb now

She had several ups and downs in her career spanning 17 years so far. But every time she has fought back. Trisha Deb, one of India's best female compound archers, has been fighting against the system since the last couple of months. The complication arose around two months ago after national coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja left India and settled down in Canada. The 27-year old archer speaking on the issue to The Bridge says, “It has been a severe blow to me. I have been training under (Jiwanjot) Sir for almost nine years. His coaching to was a blend of technical superiority and superb man-management skill. Whatever success I have got including the 2014 Incheon Asian Games silver should be credited to Teja Sir. It took me time to digest the shock.” According to Trisha, Jiwanjot left the country out of anger and frustration. Trisha opined, “He was dejected after being continuously ignored by the Federation. If there was anyone who deserved Dronacharya in our sport, it was him. But his name was removed from the list. Also, he did not get any worthy salary for training the national compound team. His only earning was from his job at Punjab University. All these odds forced him to leave India permanently.” Jiwanjot Singh with Indian compound archery team. (Photo: World Archery) Trisha had tried to continue taking video training from her Sir from Canada. But that was not feasible. So, the West Bengal based archer who finished at the fourth position at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games last year has taken

an interesting decision. She will be practising alone. But an invisible coach is going to be with Trisha in the upcoming days. That is the training and match videos of her favourite archer, former No. 1 in the world in compound archery, Colombia’s Sara Lopez. Trisha clarifies, “She is the best archer in the world. More importantly, her style and technique suit my style a lot. I already have started watching her practice and matches on the internet. Now I will follow it religiously and try to apply in my own practice.”

Missing World Cup by one point

Earlier, Trisha received another blow which forced her to stay away from archery for three months completely. The former silver medalist at the World Championship pointed out that this jolt was heartbreaking. “We went to Italy in 2017 for a 10-day training camp under the famous coach-cum-player Sergio Pagni. Following his advice I changed my bow. It became little heavier. But this change of bow did not suit me and at the same time, I underwent severe pain on my right shoulder." "Not just that, I had to be satisfied with a fourth-place finish at the Jakarta Asian Games. It became difficult for me to pull the string of bow at the time of releasing arrows. I took part in the Asian Games even with the pain,” she described. India's Trisha Deb won two bronze medals at the 2014 Asian Games. Trisha has given the heavier bow back to Pagni. But the shoulder pain forced her to leave archery completely for three months. She had to undergo physiotherapy at Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Kolkata centre. Even after the break Trisha won the national championship in Cuttack, held on 13th and 14th March. Then after an off day, the archers had to move to Bhubaneswar for appearing at the selection trial. Trisha expressed surprise while commenting,

“From 16th March to 18th March, we had to appear at selection trials. It was a whole day affair under the scorching sun. More importantly, this selection trial was for the next three World Cups and the World Championship. I do know how this was possible.” Also Read: Indian team for 2019 World Championships announced Still, Trisha was within the selected first three members’ team till the beginning of the last day. But on the final day, she missed the selection by a whisker, losing the third spot by a point. The employee of South-Eastern Railway stated, “Since childhood, I have always hated to lose. I always cried a lot. This was the first time I did not cry after being ruled out of the Indian team for such a crucial four international championships." "My mother (Supra Dev) has been my sole inspiration since my childhood. She explained to me that unless I can take up defeat sportingly I cannot succeed.” The archer now aims to cross the hurdle at the selection trials for the Asian Championship and seems desperate to get back into the Indian team.