It is no coincidence that in three consecutive Olympics till now, the first medal for India has come from its women. In Rio, it was Sakshi Malik, while in Tokyo, it was Mirabai Chanu, and now in Paris, it has been Manu Bhaker. This is a testimony to the rising power of women in today’s India.

Born on 18th February 2002 at Jhajjar in Haryana, pistol-firing was not on young Manu’s list of sports. Haryana is better known for churning out boxers and wrestlers, and so without a doubt, boxing was one of the sports on Manu’s list along with tennis and skating. In fact, seeing the Manu Bhaker of today with her infectious sweet smile, one would scarcely believe that at one time she won a medal at the national level in a particular form of martial art. However, once she tried her hand at shooting at the age of 14 years, and much to India’s good fortune, shooting became teenager Manu’s first love and it has continued till date.

Shooting is among the oldest events that were included in the Olympics as it was introduced at the very first modern Summer Olympics at Athens in 1896. Since then, shooting events have been contested in three categories – the pistol, rifle and shotgun. The U.S. has the history of being the most successful country in shooting so far, with more than 100 Olympic medals, while India, before the Paris 2024 version, had just four. Major Rajvardhan Rathore opened the account with a silver in the Men’s Double Trap at Athens in 2004. In 2008, at Bejing, Abhinav Bindra excelled in the 10 metre rifle event with a gold and then four years later, at London, Gagan Narang won a bronze in the 10 metre rifle event, while Vijay Kumar achieved the same in the 25 metre rapid air pistol event.

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Sixteen-year-old Anish Bhanwala, who won medals including gold at the recent ISSF Junior World Cup at Suhl in Germany, is presently one of India’s best pistol shooters. Thanks to his interest in sports and the physical training he loves doing, Anish is 5’9” in height and 70 kg in weight. What impressed me most when I met Anish was his soft-spoken nature and respect for elders. VIJAYAN BALA spoke to Anish on how he took to shooting, his achievements so far and his goals for the future.

How did you take to shooting?
When I was about 10 years of age I used to participate in the modern pentathlon events. I represented India at the U-12 Modern Pentathlon World Championships in 2013 and the Asian Modern Pentathlon Championships in 2015. Shooting was my favourite sport in the modern pentathlon events and so I decided to concentrate on it.

Apart from your national coach Jaspal Rana, the ace shooter, who else has helped you in your career to date?
My father has done his best to ensure that I can concentrate on my shooting. When I was living in Karnal, my father borrowed a pistol so that I could practise at the range in SBS Senior Secondary School. My personal coach, Harpreet Singh, has helped me a lot over the past four years.

What has been your major achievement, so far?
My biggest achievement to date has been winning the gold medal in the 2018 Gold Coast Asian Games in the 25m rapid fire pistol event. I shot 580 and in the process set a new Games record. I also became the youngest Indian to win gold at the Commonwealth Games at the age of 15. Earlier this year in the World Cup for seniors at New Delhi I shot 588 and qualified for the finals. The 588 was a national record. My main events are the 25m rapid fire pistol, 25m pistol and 25m standard pistol — individual, team and mix events.

Finally, what are your future plans?
I have joined class 12 in ManavRachna International School which is quite close to the DrKarni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi. The school not only permits me to participate in shooting but also helps me in my academics. It also has a centre that helps me in building my strength, etc. Again, I keep learning in every competition I take part in. This is making me a better player. I have two more tournaments where I can win an Olympic quota for India. My aim is to make it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and do India proud.

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Sometime in the 80s, I had written an article in this same column titled, ‘Why We Fail in Sports.’ Things then for Indian sports were not as pleasant as they are today. One of my points was that we are unable to compete in such sports where an individual’s physical size or strength becomes extremely important. Thus, my recommendations were that what we need to compete in such sports where physical strength takes a back seat like shooting, archery, chess, billiards and the like or where the competition is between physically equals like boxing and wrestling. One teenager who seems to be proving my contention in recent times is seventeen-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary from Uttar Pradesh.

A farmer’s son, once again, Saurabh is yet another talent that comes from a family which is far from any affluence. This seems to be a new trend in Indian sports where a fresh sporting talent seems to be emerging from among the teenagers of the not-so-affluent class. Maybe it is the lack of affluence which is an impetus for such youngsters to put in that extra effort required to realize their dreams. Whatever be the underlining reason, Indian sport seems to be the gainer.

Born on 11 May 2002 in Kalina village of the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, Saurabh has impressed one and all not only by winning gold medals but also creating new world records. The Binauli Range in Baghpat District is where Saurabh has been coached under Amit Sheoran. The young shooter has had to travel 15 km each way from his village to the range and back to complete his practice sessions that have finally brought him the laurels that he rightly deserves. With the passage of time, Saurabh seems to have monopolised the 10-metre air pistol event.

Since shooting is not a widely-followed sport, it would not be out of place to mention a few facts about the sports which will help the readers understand as to how the sport is conducted. The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is the governing body of the sport and it lays down all the rules for the sport.

The 10m Air Pistol Men event is conducted in standing position with the target being placed at a distance of 10 metres from the shooter. The shooters have to reload the pistol after each shot as pistols are single-loaded. The qualification round consists of 60 shots while in the elimination-style final, athletes can shoot a maximum of 20 shots.

Following the athletes’ presentation, the final begins with 2 series of 5 shots where each series must be fired in 250 seconds. After the first 2 series, a maximum of 14 single shots can be fired wherein each shot must be fired in 50 second. Thereafter, the lowest-ranked athlete is eliminated after every 2 shots. Thus, the last 2 shots decide the gold medal winner. A shoot-off decides the final winner if the score between the last two shooters left in the field is a tie.

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