Asian Games 2018: Young Guns Target Gold

Of the 13 Indian shooters than won a medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG), six were aged 25 or below. Of the eight Indian medal winners in this year’s first ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico, five were younger than 25.

If numbers were to tell a story, there couldn’t be a better example than this.A whiff of fresh air has hit Indian shooting by some richly-talented new kids on the block who promise to create many a storm in the years to come.

If pistol shooter Manu Bhaker hit headlines by bagging twin gold medals in her maiden senior World Cup in Mexico and following it up with another golden show at the CWG at the age of 16, then 15-year-old Anish Bhanwala aced a test just before his Class X exams by winning the 25m rapid fire pistol in Gold Coast.

If these two are the torchbearers, then joining them in the teen club are 17-year-old Mehuli Ghosh, a CWG silver-medallist in 10m air rifle, and junior world record-holding air rifle shooter Elavenil Valarivan, who is 18. 

And then there are the likes of Shahzar Rizvi (24), Om Prakash Mitharval (22), Anjum Moudgil (24) and Akhil Sheoran (23) who have kept the flag flying for Indian shooting’s Gen Next.   

But while 2018 has been a breakthrough year for a lot of these young shooters, they will face their steepest challenge yet of their fledgling careers in the 2018 Asian Games. The medal rush in the ISSF World Cups through the year so far as well as the CWG may have given Indian shooting a high but the Asiad is a different cup of tea, with countries like China and South Korea dominating the shooting ranges at the event.

And as much as the stiffer competition will play a factor in these Games, so will the heightened burden of expectations, something the young shooters wouldn’t have been used to in their careers so far. 

“Not keeping our expectations sky high is critical,” Suma Shirur, a two-time Asian Games medallist who is now the high performance coach of the Indian junior team (rifle), told DNA.

“These youngsters in the team will be able to deal with the pressure but only as long as we have normal expectations. Remember, this is the first time they’ve broken into this team,” she added.

The youngsters have done so well throughout the year that some of them have pipped their highly-experienced compatriots to make it to the Indian squad for the Asian Games, which allows only two entries in every event.

India’s lone gold-winning shooter from the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Jitu Rai didn’t find a spot in the contingent this time, and neither did Gagan Narang, the 2012 Olympics bronze-medallist. The seasoned Heena Sidhu also had to make away for Manu in the air pistol mixed team event. 

Shirur, a former Olympic 10m air rifle shooter, said the fact that the young brigade has ensured their names into the team sheet amid such levels of competition itself shows that they have been able to deal with pressure.         

“The new kids love competition. They’re very competitive, and they enjoy it,” Shirur said. 

“That they’ve managed to come this far, where they’ve pushed themselves into the squad and made it to the team in itself shows that they’re competitive and ready. When it comes to pressure from the outside, they are able to deal with it well. That’s why they are here,” Shirur, who is with the contingent in Palembang, said.

Keeping it realistic

However, she warned that the targets should be realistic in these Asian Games — both from the contingent as a whole and the youngsters in specific — mainly due to the tougher competition as well as the absence of team events.   

“The youngsters in this team are tough and technically much more equipped now than they were before. But, would that be enough to win a medal at the Asian Games? I really don’t know,” Shirur said. 

“We can’t predict anything this time. Yes, there has been a good show at the CWG, but Asian Games is a completely different ball game. You have the Chinese here, so the challengers are way tougher than what you have in CWG, especially in rifle shooting. 

“Plus, there are no team events this time, and some of the events where Indians have traditionally done well have also been dropped,” she added. The Indian shooting group returned with nine medals from the previous Asiad, with five of them coming in team events.   

That said, Shirur believes there is a right blend of youth and experience in the current squad to make an impact.  

“It’s a very nice mixture. On the one hand we have very experienced shooters like Sanjeev Rajput, a multiple-time Olympian, and on the other we have a few youngsters along with juniors who have broken into the circuit this year,” Shirur said.

‘Best phase of Indian shooting’

Suma Shirur felt that the current bunch of shooters in India is the best she has seen for a long time in terms of the quality as well as the quantity of talent. “I would say this is the best phase of Indian shooting I’ve seen in the past so many years,” she said. “We have so many quality young shooters now that they can have a really bright future ahead of them. Credit to NRAI (National Rifle Association of India) for investing in its youth policy and believing in it. Also, getting a lot of the past Indian shooters into the coaching system is also showing its effect. All that is making a really big difference to the sport,” she added. 

India’s shooting squad 

Senior Rifle: Men: 3 Positions: Sanjeev Rajput, Akhil Sheoran; Air Rifle: Ravi Kumar, Deepak Kumar; 300m Standard Rifle: Harjinder Singh, Amit Kumar; Air Rifle Mixed: Ravi Kumar, Apurvi Chandela;

Women: 3 Positions: Anjum Moudgil, Gaayathri N; Air Rifle: Apurvi, Elavenil Valarivan

Senior Pistol: Men: Air Pistol: Abhishek Verma, Saurabh Chaudhary; Rapid Fire Pistol: Shivam Shukla, Anish; Air Pistol Mixed: Abhishek Verma, Manu Bhaker; 

Women: Air Pistol: Manu, Heena Sidhu; Sports Pistol: Rahi Sarnobat, Manu

Senior Shotgun: Men: Trap: Lakshay, Manavjit Singh Sandhu; Skeet: Sheeraz Sheikh, Angadwir Bajwa; Double trap: Ankur Mittal, Shradul Vihaan; Trap Mixed: Lakshay, Shreyasi Singh;

Women: Trap: Shreyasi Singh, Seema Tomar

Skeet: Ganemat Sekhon, Rashmmi Rathore; Double Trap: Shreyasi Singh, Varsha Varman

FLASHBACK 2014

India’s shooters returned with nine medals from the Incheon Asian Games, five of those coming in team events. The four individual medallists were: Jitu Rai (gold, 50m pistol), Abhinav Bindra (bronze, 10m air rifle), Chain Singh (bronze, 50m rifle 3 positions), Shweta Chaudhary (bronze, 10m air pistol). Jitu’s was the lone yellow metal, with one silver and seven bronze.