PUNE: Shuttler Anupama Upadhyaya has not emulated shooter Abhinav Bindra’s Olympic gold medal yet, but the youngster is trying to follow the methodical approach of the champion’s path.
The reigning National champion has been training under Bindra’s mentor Amit Bhattacharjee for mental training.
And it seems to be working in her favour.
After winning the National title in February this year, Anupama, 18, has made her way to the Indian team for the Sudirman Cup and Asian Games, clearly establishing herself among the top-three players in the country.
The sports psychologist said the Almora girl has potential of achieving greater things in the years to come.
“Although she has been training under me for almost five years, the results are seen only now,” Bhattacharjee, who was a part of Bindra’s gold medal journey, told TOI.
Bhattacharjee has been working on reducing the stress and anxiety in the mind of the player through a mix of meditation techniques.
“It is a combination of Alpha Rhythm meditation with scientifically designed software that uses a pulse electromagnetic field with a basic motive of eliminating stress and anxiety from her mind,” he said.
“Unlike normal meditation, this technique is neither inspirational, religious nor spiritual. And the therapy produces calming alpha brainwaves, which further helps in the release of good hormones like dopamine and serotonin,” he said.
Bhattacharjee added that the therapy helps the shuttler create a vacuum in her mind to reduce match pressure. “In a layman’s language, in this technique, mind is taken from a point to infinity. So if she has a match tomorrow, the therapy will make her relaxed as the space created in the mind will reduce the anxiety to the level of a match which is scheduled after five years,” he said. “The vacuum is filled by positive thoughts.”
Anupama’s father Naveen said that the mental training has helped his daughter reach this level. “She has been training with Bhatacharjee sir for some years. We feel the real impact will be seen now as she will be playing in the top level. She will be facing international players and I hope the training will help her overcome the challenges,” Naveen said.
Former player and coach Vimal Kumar agrees that Anupama has grown mentally strong. “She has been doing well and the national title proves just that. However, I feel she needs to work on her physical strength and strokes to excel at the international level,” he said.
