Kumkum Mohod – The Quiet Teenager Who Visualised Her Way to Asian Games History

At 17, Kumkum Mohod is already learning that some of the biggest moments in sport are won long before the competition begins.

At Chugo Suo Park Arena, with an Asian Games gold medal and an Olympic dream hanging in the balance, the teenager stood up for the decisive shoot-off against South Korea’s Oh Ye-jin. The contest had finished 5-5. One arrow would decide everything.

Mohod had already seen this moment in her mind.

“I visualised a 10 before the shoot-off and have been practising visualising since the start of the Games,” she said.

Then she did exactly what she had imagined. A perfect 10 under immense pressure gave Mohod the gold and made her the first Indian woman to win an individual recurve title at the Asian Games. It also secured India a quota place for the LA 2028 Olympic Games.

For Mohod, however, the shoot-off was not an isolated moment of brilliance. It was the culmination of a process she had been following throughout the Games.

“I kept my focus on my own performance and not who I was playing,” she said.

Visualisation and breathing have become part of that process. The Indian archery team works on both during training, but Mohod also made sure to continue the routine at the competition venue.

“We have a session for visualisation and breathing training,” she explained. “We do it in training and at the ground we do this visualisation training. We do it every day here as well in the venue. I visualised that I had shot perfect 10s. This was a process.”

That process was tested repeatedly in the final.

Mohod trailed 1-3 before producing a perfect score to level the contest at 3-3. She then found herself 3-5 down, with the gold within reach of her Korean opponent. Once again, she refused to let the situation dictate her performance.

Another perfect score forced the shoot-off.

And when the moment arrived, Mohod delivered the 10 she had already seen in her mind.

The teenager’s personality away from the range is almost the complete opposite of the drama she produced on it. Quiet and reserved, she says she does not like to celebrate too much. There is, however, one small indulgence she is happy to make an exception for.

“I don’t like to celebrate much but I do like ice cream. Butterscotch.”

There are other glimpses into the life of a teenager who is still balancing her studies with a rapidly rising sporting career. Before archery took over, studies came naturally to her.

“I was quite good in studies,” she said. “Maths is my favourite subject.”

She also paints, and one of her favourite memories from the build-up to the Asian Games came during a group painting session at camp. The athletes painted a nature scene and presented it to their coach, Udham Singh.

Away from both books and the archery range, Mohod is much like any other teenager. She enjoys watching Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah and comedy shows, while her music preference is decidedly more reflective.

“I do love listening to slow melancholic songs,” she said.

But beneath the quiet personality is a teenager who has carried an enormous sporting dream for years.

“I used to dream of the Olympics as a child and today I got the quota. A dream come true moment.”

The Asian Games have already given Mohod three medals, gold in the women’s individual and team events and silver in the mixed team event. But the individual gold will carry a different weight.

It was history. It was an Olympic quota. And, perhaps most importantly, it was a moment she had already lived through in her imagination.

Then came the perfect 10.

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