Deepika Kumari practises at JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Tuesday. (Bhola Prasad)

Come breeze, come blast, Jharkhand’s golden girl will not bow out of Lord’s without a whiz and a wow.

Deepika Kumari, who has earned the sobriquet for her penchant for gold medals, has added a few extra pounds to her imported bow to counter the winds of change during the London Olympics scheduled in July-August next year.

Varying wind pattern can affect the trajectory or path of arrows. More poundage or weight of a bow helps in arresting this anomaly while increasing the speed of arrows.

Seventeen-year-old Deepika, who is among four Indian archers to have qualified for the globe’s most prestigious Games, has already started practice with her improvised gear under the watchful eyes of her mentors — Dharmender Tiwary, Purnima Mahto and Korean coach Lim Chae Woong recruited by Tata Archery Academy.

“We are making her score bullseye with additional poundage. She is comfortable with the new setting — from 38lbs to 40lbs — in her recurve bow of Korean make, said city-based Mahto.

Mahto, also the coach of the Indian women’s archery squad, said that the draw (of the string) remained the same no matter what the poundage was. “Deepika, however, will need more strength to shoot with more poundage,” Mahto, who herself bagged six gold medals in the 1994 Pune National Games, added.

Mahto, Tiwary and Lim were unanimous in their decision to up the poundage of Deepika’s bow. “She has been shooting with 38 pounds for years. But Olympics is a different ball game. Windy conditions can be a factor at Lord’s (where archery is scheduled from July 27 to August 23) and we are not taking chances,” Mahto maintained.

With more power in her armoury, limbs of Deepika’s bow have also been changed. “It is absolutely necessary to change the limbs of the bow once the poundage is increased,” stressed Sanjeeva Singh, former chief of Tata Steel sports department.

Shedding light on technicalities that come into play while shooting with increased poundage, Singh, an Arjuna awardee credited for giving archery a firm footing in Jharkhand, explained that extra power in a bow was useful while shooting in windy conditions.

“If poundage of a bow is less, an arrow tends to gain height once it is released. Wind creates negative impact on an arrow if the trajectory gains height,” Singh said over phone from New Delhi. He added that world-class men archers shoot with poundage between 44 and 46, while women generally stick to 40-42.

Mahto said Deepika’s real test would be during the senior national championship in Jamshedpur in January.

“She is practising with additional poundage, but it remains to be seen how she shoots during a competition. There is a vast difference between a camp and a championship though we are confident Deepika will adjust well,” she added.

The ace archer sounded bullish too. “I am making adjustments and gradually feeling comfortable with the new set-up of my bow,” Deepika said.