Deepak highlights ‘gurukul’ effect with silver in air rifle
With a calmness instilled by his spiritual teacher, Delhi boy makes opportunity count
PALEMBANG: Deepak Kumar is not flashy or pretentious like many in his age bracket who grew up in Delhi. That’s because, he was moved to a gurukul in Dehradun when he was eight. Reason: his parents didn’t want him to be “influenced” by Delhi’s culture.
On Monday, Kumar, now 30 and with the Indian Air Force based at Hindon near Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, showed monklike composure to overcome initial hiccups in the final and win silver in the men’s 10m air rifle. It was the second medal for India from the Jakabaring Complex ranges here.
Apurvi Chandela, another air rifle shooter, looked in sublime form in the qualification round of the women’s 10m event, finishing second and coming close to breaking the Games’ record. But two very poor shots in the final saw the medal slip away, even as her coach, veteran shooter Suma Shirur, watched looking bewildered and frustrated. The Jaipur girl was the fourth to be eliminated and finished fifth.
But Deepak, toughened by the austere life in the gurukul and one who “believes only in karma and leaving the rest to destiny”, was a picture of self-confidence from the moment he started his qualification round along with Ravi Kumar.
With hardly any pressure — he had not won a major international medal before Monday and had started his international career very late, at the age of 29 — Deepak finished fifth in qualification behind Ravi Kumar.
Much was expected from Ravi Kumar, who won the mixed team bronze with Apurvi, here on Sunday. But with the world champion Yang Haoran of China in devastating form, there was not much the Indians could have done. Ravi fell by the wayside after a 9.9 in the second competition stage elimination to finish fourth, while Deepak continued his grind. Deepak saw his opportunity when Chinese Taipei’s Lu Shaocchuan had a terrible 9.6 on the 20th shot and he shot 10.8. That took him from the third to second and a silver medal with a score of 247.7.
Chandela aggregated 106.3 from her first 10 shots in the qualification before completing her 60 shots with a 105.8 from her last 10.
The new scoring format doesn’t allow qualification round scores to be carried to the finals. Chandela’s first shot 9.6 before trying to make amends but the quest for gold was already lost.