In the span of a few weeks in May, from Shanghai to Sonepat, 17-year-old archer Kumkum Mohod achieved two big dreams of an Indian teen athlete -- a World Cup medal and an Asian Games berth.
First, she was part of the Indian women's team that won gold at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Shanghai, beating the likes of 10-time Olympic champions South Korea and hosts China. Then, she beat teammate and veteran Deepika Kumari at the trials in Sonepat to secure her spot for the 2026 Asiad in Japan.
Two days later, she was back training at her coach Prafull Dange's academy in Amravati in Maharashtra.
These kinds of breakthroughs can take years to happen for some, but they came one after another for Kumkum, who started training with the recurve bow just three years ago. Yet, for Kumkum these feel like part of the process. Such is the simplicity of this rare teenager, who does not use social media but prefers to read and write in her diary instead.
"This was my first international medal, so I was very happy. [At the trials], there was pressure but I was focussed on process and just shot my arrows," an extremely soft-spoken Kumkum tells ESPN India from Amravati.
"This is among the first time she is giving a media byte, so she is hesitant and not sure what she should say," explains coach Dange, who has been with her since she picked up a bow and who she trusts to do most of the talking as she slowly gets used to the spotlight of being an Indian athlete.
Dange recalls how Kumkum, who lived in the same colony as him, first came to his academy back in 2018 when she was in fourth or fifth garde. "Within six months, she won a medal at a national exposure tournament for children in Vijayawada and her confidence started growing," he says.
That medal is also what sparked Kumkum's interest in archery, going the reverse direction of finding success before falling for the sport. "I started in 2018 after my mummy told me to join this sport and I went along. The interest came after I joined and won my first national medal."
From that medal to sub-junior success, Kumkum climbed her way to her international debut in the Asia Cup Stage-1 last year -- a debut that didn't bring a medal but almost cost her SSC Board Exams.
She couldn't reach in time for Marathi paper and her family thought she would have to repeat her boards. But they were pleasantly surprised after the result came out and she had secured 72%, despite missing one entire subject.
This little miracle was down to sport too. She got 20 marks for a national medal, and 15 marks came from practical via her school, which gave her a passing total and saved her year. It was like destiny always had Kumkum singled out for sport.
Dange spotted her natural strength for recurve archery early on. "We start training kids in the Indian style, with a bamboo bow at first and then see parameters and put in recurve or compound. Kumkum's upper body has a lot of strength, especially shoulder and scapula, even as a teenager. So, recurve archery, which is an Olympic discipline, was a good fit." In recurve, the bow and shooting process is more manual and requires more strength to operate.
The other thing that is essential to success in archery is complete mental control. Remember those heartbeat monitors during the Olympics? The composure needed between arrows in the natural elements is often as crucial as having physical skill.
This is where Kumkum's demeanour becomes as asset. She is a diligent student and is so focussed on her processes that the usual teenage distractions of smartphones and social media do not impact her much. She does yoga and meditation and her hobbies are reading books on the power of the mind and maintaining a handwritten diary. All this helps keep her focus while shooting.
Dange also credits the inaugural Archery Premier League in 2025 for Kumkum's ability to be calm on field despite her relative inexperience. "It was a big benefit because she got to be alongside top archers in the world like Brady Ellison, 'Mister Perfect' Mike Schloesser, Olympic medallist Alejandra Valencia...She saw Ellison (who is considered among the greatest) do meditation before his matches. These things help," says the coach.
Kumkum concurs, "To see the shooting and processes of foreign archers in real life was interesting."
"One more benefit was that in APL you have only 15 seconds to shoot an arrow - to make it more exciting -- while internationally the time in 20 seconds. So, she learnt to shoot faster and finish her process quicker which helped because there was less time to overthink," says Dange.
Kumkum is certainly a quicker shooter and has good speed off the bow, and now she has early international success. The challenge now will be to maintain it, especially with the pressure that a multi-sport event like Asian Games brings.
Up next for her is the World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya in June, where she hopes to add a first individual medal to her team success. The big goal, though, is an Asian Games medal later this year.