Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): state archery academy archer Soniya Thakur will be part of the Indian contingent for the upcoming 2022 Asia Cup Stage 3 tournament, to be held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, from December 20 to 25.
While talking to the Free Press, archer Soniya Thakur said, "I am excited that I got selected to be a part of the Indian team for 2022 Asia Cup Stage 3 tournament. This will be my first international tournament, and I can say that I am all set for it."
When asked how she got interested into archery, Soniya said, "My father is a gym trainer, and there he was surrounded by archery coaches. He was interested in archery and hence, he first asked my sister to join the MP Academy. In 2016, my sister joined the MP Academy, and then after some time I joined the academy. I joined the academy in 2018. Even now, my sister and I are siblings only inside the room, when we are at the shooting area, we are competitors."
When asked about mental pressure during a tournament and how to deal with it, the archer said, "I feel, firstly we need to normalize the pressure, we need to accept that yes we are under pressure. We need to understand that if as an athlete I am under pressure then for sure the other athletes must be under pressure too. It is nothing new. Secondly, we need to stop overthinking about the result. We keep thinking about the result, and by doing that, we ruin our performance. We need to focus on the process, the result is secondary."
She added, "Our participation never goes in vain, either we win or we learn. Our hard work never goes wasted. Archery is an expensive sport, but at the academy we get everything from the government. Therefore, I want to thank the state government for providing us with such amazing infrastructure and coaches."
