For Chinki, no bragging before big goal
NEW DELHI: Five months back, Chinki Yadav decided she needed to open a Twitter account to “share her thoughts about shooting”. The account, though, hasn’t seen any activity as the Bhopal shooter had a change of heart almost instantly. “Yes, I opened the account, but would not tweet anything before I achieve something big,” says Yadav, the 21-year-old from Bhopal who is the newest entrant in the Indian shooting landscape that is dotted with prodigies aiming for nothing less than a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I don’t use my phone too often as the focus is on shooting, but (I) would do (tweet) when I win something big,” the daughter of an electrician, who works at the Madhya Pradesh governmentrun Bhopal Shooting Academy, where she spends nearly 6-7 hours daily fine-tuning her skills.
Yadav was a surprise package at the Asian Championships in Doha last month where she secured an Olympic quota for the country in 25m sports pistol, joining the list of elite shooters such as the seasoned Rahi Sarnobat and teenager Manu Bhaker.
Yadav knows that dabbling on Twitter would just not serve her purpose and that she would have to dedicate as much time and energy as possible on her sport, given that she could be the first on the chopping block if she doesn’t perform exceptionally well at the National Championships, national trials and the world cups preceding the Olympics.
With Yadav securing a quota place, there are three contenders—yadav, Sarnobat and Bhaker—for two Olympic slots in 25m sports pistol. The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) rules allow only two per event at the Olympics from a country.
Yadav’s coach Jaywardhan Singh Chauhan is nervous given the “tough times ahead”, though Yadav is calm. “The scenario is such that nothing less than gold (at the nationals), top positions in trials and a good showing in the world cups will give her the edge over the others. If her performance isn’t up to the mark, it would be difficult for her to board the flight to Tokyo,” says Chauhan.
“After the National Championships, there will be two trials in the last week of January to further assess performance of Olympic quota winners. This will be followed by the world cup in March at the Dr Karni Singh Ranges.”
Chauhan has seen Yadav’s shooting career soar since she came to the Bhopal range in 2012 as a 14-year-old accompanied by her father. By 2017, she was ready to step into the cut throat world of top-level shooting, having earned her stripes as a junior, winning team medals in world cups and world championships.
But there were “huge fluctuations” in scores in 2016 as she experimented with technique and stance. While on a given day Yadav would shoot a superb 575/600, her scores would tumble to as low as 565.
“It was understandable as she was taking baby steps in senior shooting; a category dominated by world cup winners, Olympians and seasoned shooters with years of experience and knowledge of how to wriggle out of tough situations. Anyone would get overawed,” says Chauhan. “Many budding shooters with potential get overawed when they reach that level. But Chinki maintained her composure.”
There have been several instances of emerging shooters losing the way after beginning with a bang. World junior champion in 10m air rifle Navnath Fartade won the title at Zagreb in 2006 but very little has been heard of the Maharashtra prodigy since. “It’s not easy to handle pressure at the senior level and they get distracted,” says pistol shooter Samaresh Jung, the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games hero.
Malaika Goel, the youngest to win a medal—silver in 10m air pistol at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games—too could not cope with pressure at the senior level. “Many juniors shoot world-class scores but can’t maintain the tempo over a period of time. Shooting is all about focus for long periods. Many shooters have social responsibilities and other distractions… they simply fade away,” says Jung.
Chauhan says when shooters are struggling with poor scores, they start losing self-belief and find it difficult to overcome it. And precision shooting is all about decimals, inner-10s and perfect scores. Shooting perfect scores day in and day out in competitions and practice and then handling peer pressure, and crowd pressure, is very difficult.
That Yadav managed to hold her own at the Asian Championships and win an Olympic quota is a tribute to her fighting qualities, says Chauhan. Perhaps that is why she is not nervous going into the National Championships that got under way at Bhopal last weekend.
Asked if she would be under pressure at her home range during the Nationals, she said, “What pressure? I’m aware of my job.”
She avoids debate on the strengths and weaknesses of her opponents. “I have topped the field in 25m in the two trials in September ahead of the Doha Asian Championships and know what to do. I’m doing nothing special but following the same routine that helped me win the quota place. I need to stay away from distractions,” says Yadav.
She meditates for long hours to keep her “mind away from distractions”. “I have learned to meditate and shut my mind to the outside world. It has helped me minimise errors. The 588/600 I shot at the Asian Championships in Doha to seal an Olympic quota was a result of that,” she says.
The string of poor scores in 2016 is a closed chapter, much like her Instagram account which Yadav deactivated when she realised it would not lead her to her target. “She was struggling with her scores and, perhaps, Instagram was a means to give outlet to her frustrations. That was a transitional phase… she’s moved on in life; she’s got over it.
“A few months back she opened a Twitter account. I hope the first achievement she tweets about winning an Olympic medal,” says Chauhan.