Deepak Kumar's silver medal show in the 10m air rifle event at the Asian Games here in Palembang yesterday was his first major individual medal in international competition. That it didn't seem so, given the confidence with which he wielded his rifle, is another story. Deepak shot a final score of 247.7 points to finish second only behind defending champion Tang Haoran of China, who shot an impressive Asian Games record of 249.1 points to clinch top honours.

In the qualification, Deepak was slow off the blocks and his top shot was a 10.6. However, in the final, he shot above the 10.6 mark thrice, including one perfect shot of 10.9, besides a 10.8 and 10.7. He was under immense pressure because he was not in a great position on the leaderboard initially. The 10.8 shot catapulted him into the No. 2 spot and he followed that with a perfect 10.9 to consolidate his silver medal position. This kind of precision shooting doesn't come overnight but after meticulous practice and National Rifles Association of India's (NRAI) Observer of rifle and pistol events, former shooter Ronak Pandit explained just how Deepak has done the hard yards in this context.