Gunning for the mind

Divyansh Singh Panwar (left), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (centre) and Rudrankksh Patil after clinching 10m Air Rifle team gold recently. PIC/PTI

When India's shooters drew blank at the Tokyo Olympics, they copped a lot of flak from all quarters, given the amount of money spent on them by the government and the NRAI [National Rifle Association of India] for training and frequent foreign exposure trips. There was no doubting the technical expertise of India's marksmen, who frequently rule at ISSF junior and senior World Cups and World Championships. It is the mind that crumbled under immense pressure, and for this reason, the NRAI put particular emphasis on the mental aspect, and the results are there for all to see.

22-medal haul

India's 33-member shooting contingent came up with an all-time best Asian Games performance, bagging seven gold, nine silver and six bronze medals for a total of 22 medals from the campaign. They were second only to the athletics contingent, which picked up 29 medals, but the shooters won one gold medal more than the track and field stars.

NRAI chief Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo (left) and NRAI secy general Sultan Singh at Hangzhou recently. Pic/Ashwin Ferro

The previous best for India's shooters was the Doha 2006 Asiad where they won three gold, five silvers and six bronze medals. At the 2018 edition in Jakarta, there were nine medals, including two gold. Interestingly, the medals were almost evenly distributed across all categories. The rifle shooters accounted for the nine medals, while the pistol shooters won seven and the shotgun team won six. India finished second, only behind China (29 medals) in the overall shooting competition. Here, India's shooters broke numerous records too - 18 to be precise, including three world records, nine Asian Games marks and six Asian records.

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‘A fabulous performance'

"It's a fabulous performance - a job well done. Of course, we did have some narrow misses too - we had a large number of fourth and fifth-place finishes and these the things that need to be bettered next time, but for now, it's a record-breaking show and we are extremely pleased with the team," NRAI president Kalikesh Narayana Singh Deo told mid-day here. NRAI's Secretary General Sultan Singh couldn't agree more. "Our shooters have done brilliantly, but we will always aim higher. Our target is the Olympics and for that this is the training ground for our shooters," said Singh.

Elaborating on the emphasis of mind over matter for the shooters, Deo added: "We have an intense high performance programme led by our High Performance Director, who has a team of around 20 people under him for the different shooting disciplines. These include physiotherapists, psychologists and other support staff members. We could only bring 10 here due to a limitation but we are putting enormous stress on the mental aspect to get the finals' simulation right. The athletes' biological feedback system is crucial as is the support of their mental and physical trainers and nutritionists. Only if this team work in tandem can the athlete eventually deliver medals."

Mind training is not merely counseling, explained Singh. "In each sport, beyond technical superiority comes the mental element that gives you the killer instinct at top-level competitions. You have to be calm and composed during big finals and you can't achieve this mind training with just counseling or some theoretical syllabus. Each athlete is individually studied by our team of experts, who observe their physical, mental and environmental health and prescribe rectifications accordingly,' said Singh.

Both Deo and Singh are certain that Paris 2024 will not be a repeat of Tokyo 2020. "We have learnt from our mistakes in Tokyo, but there is always room for improvement. We have identified a few areas where we need to work on, based on our results here and as well as the results at the World Championship in Baku. We know where to push. We also need to make some policy changes, going forward, and are ready for them because we want those shooting medals in Paris," concluded Deo.