Sports Ministry has for the first time organised a mental training camp for top archers in the country under the guidance of a trainer from a renowned institute in United States.
The five-day camp by Lorenzo Beltrame, from Johnson and Johnson Human Performance Institute at Florida, provided mental training to 16 archers keeping in view 2016 and 2020 Olympics.
Deepika Kumari, Dola Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das, Jayanta Talukdar, Mangla Singh Champia, Bombayla Devi, Rimil Buruily and Atul Verma were among the 16 archers who took part in the camp.
"Many a times in the past it was observed that Indian athletes get past the qualifying rounds but buckle under pressure at the time of advanced stages of the competitions at international level. One of the main issues to be addressed in this regard is to improve mental toughness of athletes. The training camp was a step forward in that direction," ministry said in a release.
The camp was held from April 20-24 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here and comprised sessions for collective as well as individual one-to-one sessions. It was followed by a three-day training of four coaches and six sports psychologists from April 27-29 so that they could continue with the mental training of the athletes in the run up to 2016 Olympics.
Beltrame will also conduct one online session with athletes of the said camp from USA as a follow up.
A detailed report has been sought from Beltrame on the training so that a focused shortterm approach can be taken for each elite athlete for 2016 Olympics and a road map for long term approach may be prepared for emerging athletes for 2020 Olympics. The Ministry may also consider some more follow up sessions for the athletes with the said institute.
The mental training camp was funded from the National Sports Development Fund of the Sports Ministry at an estimated cost of Rs 22.5 lakh.
