Highly-rated Rudrankksh Patil keen to add Asian Games medal to his tally

Learning from the best: Rudrankksh says Abhinav Bindra is a great mentor.
| Photo Credit: File photo

He won a gold and an Olympic quota in his maiden international senior-level outing, and now, Rudrankksh Patil is keen to do it again at the upcoming Asian Games.

The 19-year-old has been seen as a possible successor to Abhinav Bindra. Rudrankksh wants to follow in Bindra’s footsteps to claim an Olympic gold in the 10m Air Rifle. However, the youngster himself is clear on the work needed to reach that level.

Being in the present

“As teenagers, we have a lot of thoughts on how things are going to be or not, but because of the competition in India, we are trained to handle those pressures. But it’s all about the kind of perspective we go in with on that particular day – sometimes it’s positive, sometimes negative, so we are not quite sure what might come into our mind on that day, to be very honest. What we definitely try is to be in the present and grow from all the experience during matches,” he told The Hindu on the sidelines of a National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) interaction on Sunday.

Ranked fifth in the world, Rudrankksh in 2002 became only the second Indian to win a World Championship gold in the 10m Air Rifle after Bindra in 2006 and has been in constant touch with the latter.

“We have had calls and I have also visited his office in Chandigarh. He’s a great mentor and guides on a lot of things but as sportspersons, we know we have to stay in the present. We don’t discuss the past or the future, only about the current problems and how to solve them,” he revealed.

While he is keen to meet Neeraj Chopra at Hangzhou, another senior he has learnt a lot from is Divyansh Singh Panwar, teammate and competitor at the Asiad, but insists that there is no rivalry.

“I have known him since 2019, he’s a really good shooter, mentor and friend and has been to the Olympics also. I have seen him shoot in competitions a lot, and he’s my senior. It’s always good to learn from each other and push each other to do well.”

Backing the youth

Senior vice-president of NRAI Kalikesh Singh Deo, holding charge as the acting president at the moment, admitted that the Indian squad was quite young but was confident of an overall good showing in Hangzhou.

“We have an excellent team and really bright prospects. We have focussed not just on technical and physical fitness but also mental training and match preparedness.

“At the recent World Championships, we got four quotas and medals too, and from a shooting perspective it was a much tougher tournament, so if we can win there, we can win anywhere. One of the areas we have identified over the years is to focus on younger athletes, strength training, mind training and competition pressure, and I believe results are now coming in,” he added. ,