Mysuru-born high-performance senior Sport Psychologist Sanjana Kiran has been appointed to mentor Indian Shooters Manu Bhaker and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa for better preparation and performance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to be held in July-August this year. She will also be the mind coach for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team during the Indian Premier League (IPL) beginning April 9. 

Sanjana is a permanent resident of Singapore and has been a Sport Psychologist to many international elite athletes and coaches in preparation for major games and international competitions since 15 years. She has been associated with athletes from UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand and ensures performance enhancement through the use of psychological skills training and focuses on issues that are specific to the psychological well-being of athletes. 

Sanjana Kiran’s engagements with Shooters Manu and Angad include online sessions and even travelling to competitions to offer her inputs. The proposal to hire the services of Sanjana was approved and sanctioned recently at the Mission Olympic Cell meeting as part of the Government’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).

Speaking to Star of Mysore over phone from Singapore, Sanjana said that she has accepted the official offer in January this year to mentor Manu and Angad and was working towards strengthening their mental game. “For better performance of players it is necessary that they are prepared well to face the challenge physically and mentally. My sessions with them play a positive role in promoting their inner strength,” she said. 

Athletes and all sportspersons are passionate and put everything at stake for the sake of sports. They need the right kind of emotional support as they push themselves to the limits. “The role of Sport Psychology in high-performance sport is well-known abroad and India has shown signs of moving in that direction,” she noted. 

Sanjana helps athletes and sportspersons competing in big-ticket events to lead a normal life in their extraordinary journey. “They have given their lives to sports and we must understand that they are humans first and athletes next. It is not easy to stay at the top. I help them find their inner talent and also keep their self-belief going,” she said. 

Sanjana studied at St. Philomena’s and Maharani’s College and holds Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology, Manasagangothri, University of Mysore and has done the course work for Ph.D programme (Sport Psychology) at National University of Singapore and National Institute of Education/Nanyang Technological University. 

Sanjana is presently working as Consultant Head of Sport Psychology, Abhinav Bindra Foundation and as Chief Consultant, Category-A, Directorate of Sports, Madhya Pradesh and mentoring shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Chinky Yadav, Sunidhi Chauhan and Manisha Keer. Sanjana is the Founder and Director of A-Game, a Sport Psychology and Performance Psychology endeavour that aims to facilitate best performance and elevate individuals to attain peak performance. 

She was one of the high-performance trainers for India’s first High Performance Leadership Programme conducted by Abhinav Bindra Foundation and Pullela Gopichand Badminton Foundation. Sanjana lives in Singapore with her husband Kiran Namashivaya.