17 September 2010 - Victoriya KOVAL (UKR): "To be a winner, just bring your emotion into archery"

Victoriya KOVAL (UKR): "To be a winner, just bring your emotion into archery" Edinburgh – 17 September 2010   A Ukrainian recurve woman archer, Victoriya KOVAL, who is in top form, aims for the trophy at 2010 World Cup Final. As the winner of the individual competition in Stage 2 in Antalya, she is keen to face the challenge from other players.   What is your expectation on the Final this coming weekend? I am feeling very good right now. The city has put me in a good mood. All people who come to visit this great show smile. It is a spectacular and wonderful place, a historical place. We are in the centre of the city with great architecture around this park. So hopefully I wish I can play with my full potential.   How do you think about your chance of winning the trophy? First of all, all the players here are the best sportsmen around the world. I would say everyone has equal chance to become the World Cup champion. I consider myself as one of eight quality players. The chance of winning is the same with everyone.   How would you describe the relationship between you and your coach? I am very fortunate to have such a great coach (note: Viktor SYDORUK). He had four times Olympic medal winning experience for three countries, a gold medal for Spain, another gold medal for Italy, and two for Ukraine as well. For me, in competition, I think I will have good chance to win because of him. More than that, besides a personal coach, he is also very helpful to our national team’s inspiration.   What is the major influence from him? Coach is half of your success. Half of your achievement is made by the coach, especially for the team, their contribution can be very crucial. Confidence is the thing he brings to my games.   What is the reason behind your top form in 2010, as the 1st position winner in World Cup Stage 2? The first place in Antalya is a thriller. The truth is even I was really surprised with my game. I’ve been finding the competition more exciting, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere around.    Shooting in training is one side. You can shoot good, you can shoot bad. In the end, it’s not important to get onto the podium or not, the thing is you are looking for other satisfaction. It’s more about emotion. If you try this, compete for that, you will always remember these feelings. And when I speak to those people who don’t try this, they can’t understand (the feeling). You must try this, not fighting for medal; follow your brain and heart. It takes high level of concentration to be successful. If you bring your emotion in, that’s perfect, you will be the winner. But of course, sometimes, you have to prepare for failure. All sportsmen who are getting trained at this level can shoot well. The degree of concentration makes the difference.   Compared to your success this year, you did not get any medal in 2008 Beijing Olympics. How do you look back at your first Olympic experience? Olympic Games is a totally different experience. It’s like a party for the greatest sportsmen around the world. You can experience all kind of sports events. The atmosphere there has big influence on you. You must go to the field, to feel, that feeling only to yourself. You can touch all the people from so many different countries. Every country introduces itself, every sport introduces itself. The same for Olympics as for Universiade. Friendship, atmosphere, it’s good for the Olympics.   My experience in China was very special and sweet, people were very friendly. Many people who are standing around you want to help you. I don’t know about other Olympics, but this one is very special.   What brought you in the archery world? For me, when I started playing archery, it was a hobby. Actually the time when I decided to go for professional archery was more influenced by my family. My mom and my sister are very good field shooters, training field archery every day. Since that, I was playing junior international competition in different countries, then national team. The progress has been very steady.    HUANG Xing Xing World Archery Communication