‘I am not that old’: On a comeback trail, pistol ace and Olympic medallist Vijay Kumar returns to India squad | More sports News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: At the National Shooting Championships late last year, Vijay Kumar got to know that people were whispering: “He must be here visiting, isn’t it?” But that was expected. A past conqueror lurking around a battlefield where he once vanquished opponents makes people keep an eye out for him.
The fear in those whispers came true. Among the eight finalists of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol (RFP) event at the 2021 National Championships was a familiar name: Vijay Kumar, the 2012 London Olympics silver medallist.
“I didn’t win a medal, finished fourth [at the Nationals], but people surely were surprised that I was suddenly back,” a modest Vijay said, beginning this conversation with TimesofIndia.com.
That short story of a comeback was the result of just a week or so of “serious training”. At 36, almost 10 years after his Olympic moment, Vijay hasn’t lost the touch, even though the faces around him are now a lot younger.
“I am not that old,” he quipped, and then broke into a hearty laugh.

(Vijay with his 2012 Olympic silver medal – Twitter Photo)
At the Nationals, he knocked off the first objective in his comeback bid. He was then waiting for Selection Trials 1 and 2, which concluded in Bhopal last month.
It followed the announcement of India’s National Squad for 2022. In the list of accumulated scores from the Nationals and the two Selection Trials, Vijay’s average was the second best among the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event for senior men.
The DSP with the Himachal Pradesh Police was back in the national squad.
“The first objective was to qualify in the Nationals and then to be in the national squad. Two steps are done. Now the third is to improve my scores (in Selection Trials 3 to 6) and get selected for international competition,” Vijay, who served in the Indian Army before joining the police department in his home state, told TimesofIndia.com.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) selects teams for competitions based on the ranking of shooters in the national squad. At No. 2, Vijay was in the reckoning if the NRAI hadn’t decided against sending the pistol team to the ISSF World Cup in Baku from May 27 to June 7.
“I don’t know what the logic is behind it. Had it not been the case, I could have been selected,” said Vijay with a touch of disappointment in his voice.
Reportedly, the NRAI wants the pistol shooters to focus on their training programme. But no further details about that are available.
India’s second consecutive Olympic blank at the Tokyo Games last year forced the NRAI to adopt a stricter selection policy in the lead up to the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, not even a single 25m rapid fire pistol shooter qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.
With Vijay’s return to the firing point, that void may be filled for Paris. But there’s still time. Though he didn’t divulge his thoughts on another Olympic appearance, it’s the ultimate goal of any athlete. And Vijay’s ultimate goal will be no different.

(Twitter Photo)
‘IT WAS A LOT OF PRESSURE’
After missing out on an Olympic quota for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Vijay took a backseat of sorts in the international arena, though he was around till the start of 2018. Then he left his Indian Army job to join the police department, and the decorated shooter put all his energies into that, especially the DSP training.
“When I joined this second job (with Himachal Pradesh Police), there were certain norms — that for 2 to 3 years you have to complete your training, which includes field training, academic training and so on. Then Covid came. So I thought let me complete this (police training) first because in 2020 I was not shooting. So I decided to focus on one thing only and finish the whole span (period of training) together,” Vijay further told TimesofIndia.com.
The 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games individual gold medallist, who has also won two individual Asian Games bronze medals, had no qualms in admitting that after being away from shooting for so long, the return to the range wasn’t easy.
“Around four and a half years you can say,” said Vijay, who was awarded the Khel Ratna in 2012, talking about his time away from competitive shooting.
“It was not that I was inspired (to make a comeback) by something. In fact, I was playing (after the 2012 Olympic silver) and also won a silver medal (25m Centre Fire Pistol Team) at the 2014 Asian Games. Unfortunately, I couldn’t qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics…Then in 2018, 19, 20, 21 — all these years I was completing the training for my second job I joined as DSP,” the 36-year-old from the Hamirpur district in Himachal Pradesh shared with TimesofIndia.com.
It was only towards the end of 2021 that Vijay’s resolve for a return to competitive shooting grew stronger, and he put in an application for his employer’s permission to train for the National Championships.
“But to play your first competition with so little training was a lot of pressure for me personally. Plus, competitive training is different, where you learn to handle pressure by continuously playing matches. For me, that was zero,” said Vijay.
“So you can say I am learning day by day,” Vijay concluded the conversation like the way he began — on a modest note. “It will take timem, a learning phase for me.”