New Delhi: Rudrankksh Patil felt everything was new when he stood at the firing point during the National Shooting Championships in December. It was his first competition since a heart-breaking exit from the Paris Olympics trials in May last year. Only the second 10m air rifle shooter to become world champion – Abhinav Bindra was the first – he had earned India a quota spot for the Olympics, but didn’t score enough in the two-leg trials to make the cut for Paris. That miss still gnawed at him.
During the break from competitions, Rudrankksh realised he needed a course correction for the new Olympic cycle. He has to be at the top of his game in the domestic trials as well as international tournaments. Two important aspects that needed change was to give high priority to domestic trials and reduce mental stress. Going to every competition with the mindset of winning had taken a toll on the body and affected his game.
Therefore, the first thing Rudrankksh thought of on winning at the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires on Sunday was to focus on recovery. “It is a very good start to the season. I was competing in an international tournament after a long time and it’s a nice feeling to win,” he told HT.
The Thane shooter showed his class in the final, leading from start-to-finish and scoring 252.9 points. Hungary’s Istvan Peni, fresh from winning gold in 50m rifle 3 positions, just could not move ahead of Rudrankksh. He will also compete in the second World Cup in Lima this month, but Rudrankksh is not looking too far.
“My focus will be to let my body and mind recover from this.
“What I have figured out is that I need to keep myself healthy mentally, which is where I lacked earlier. My main goal for every tournament where I played was to just go and win. I didn’t realise how much stress I was putting on my body.
“I should have given myself some time off so that I could recover before the next tournament. I just wanted to play more matches. I used to imagine controlling my shaking body. I did a lot of visualisation, but even that was not helping after a point because I was using so much mental power. In pressure situations I was finding it difficult to breathe, my body and mind were not relaxed.”
Rudrankksh though didn’t realise his shooting was getting affected. “I just knew I had to control and shoot but these things started affecting my performance. I have now learnt a few techniques, had therapies, made consultations with psychologists on how I can manage it. We are prone to stress situations in sport.”
He used to get deeply involved in the working of his weapon. Now, Rudrankksh has left it to his coaches. “I cannot keep on working my mind. That’s for my team to do so that I can focus my energy on shooting.”
Since winning the silver medal at the Junior World Championships in 2021, Rudrankksh quickly achieved success at senior level. The world title came next year followed by a series of medals in ISSF World Cups in 2023. He has consistently finished on the podium in international meets and that’s why the performance in the Olympics selection trials came as a shock.
“As a shooter I need to control my emotions; but sometimes I used to get angry at myself. It was much more of an emotional turmoil for my parents.
The selection trials setback has also caught Rudrankksh not to leave anything to chance. In the Olympic selection trials, his scores were top notch, but they turned out to be not enough. “Every time I was getting into the team in second, third or fourth rank, I still shot well in international events. (After the trials miss) my goal is to start performing in Indian trials too.”
This year, he will have the opportunity to shoot in the world championships. After his title win in 2022, he could not defend in 2023 because of an NRAI policy by which other shooters were picked to earn a second quota spot for the team.
Rudrankksh has also started competing in 50m rifle 3 positions. A second event will also give a better chance to be in the India team. Seeing the likes of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, and Rhythm Sangwan compete in two events (10m air pistol and 25m pistol) at the selection trials made him take the plunge. He competed in 3P at the nationals and West Zone meet. Paris Olympics medallist Swapnil Kusale has given him a lowdown on the new event.
“I saw them compete in different events and they had another chance. I missed out on that in the trials. So, why not explore more opportunities to get selected. I thought about this after the trials.
“Rifle 3 positions is unpredictable. Conditions, ammunition selection, etc., are important. 50m is tougher mentally, physically, and also in terms of accuracy. But I have seen that trying out 50m has not made any difference to my 10m shooting. In fact, it has improved.”
