NEW DELHI: It’s a tale of two Olympians from Panipat in Haryana. One is now the toast of the nation, the other is spending time in the wilderness, trying to figure out what went wrong at the Tokyo Olympics.
It’s been nearly two weeks since Neeraj Chopra’s historic gold-winning effort in Tokyo, yet celebrations are continuing in the javelin thrower’s hometown village Khandra and beyond. Shooter Abhishek Verma, on the other hand, has taken some time off the game to focus on his legal practice. He is also looking to put behind the disappointment of having finished 17th in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the Tokyo Games after leading in the qualification stage.
Abhishek, 31, also hailing from Panipat, doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes committed in Tokyo at the future international events. For that, he has decided to be his “own coach” to avoid getting affected by “off-field issues”.
“Ghaav bahut gahre hain, bharne mein time lagega (wounds are deep, will take time to heal),” Abhishek recently told TOI, reflecting on the pain he’s been enduring since returning to the country medal-less from both his individual pistol and mixed 10m team events. In the mixed team competition pairing Yashaswini Singh Deswal, the duo finished a disappointing 17th after failing to clear Qualification 1. “I put additional stress on myself. Like other first-time shooters in the Indian contingent, we put too much pressure on our game and that undid all our hard work leading up to the Games. Talking about myself, I tried to exceed my own expectations, and looked to achieve my career-best scores in Tokyo without even realising that this was my first time at the Olympics. I was eyeing my personal best in Tokyo and that created extra pressure on me. As a result, I couldn’t even achieve the scores I had been shooting during the World Cups and in training sessions.”
Abhishek was going strong during the qualifications in his 10m air pistol event, with compatriot Saurabh Chaudhary ensuring with his brilliant comeback scores that both the Indians were in the eight-man final. While Saurabh did manage to reach the final after topping the qualification, it was Abhishek’s poor two eights in the sixth and final series that put paid to his hopes. Saurabh went out in the summit showdown, finishing seventh.
Abhishek said that his failed Tokyo campaign taught him several lessons. One. that you should become your “own coach”. The former World No.1 pistol shooter informed that he had had enough of the game of musical chairs among the Indian shooting coaches and he would be better off planning and preparing on his own for future World Cups, World Championships, Asian Games and Paris Olympics 2024.
The lawyer-turned-shooter also revealed that he would either be practising his sport at the Chandigarh shooting range or the Madhya Pradesh state shooting academy in Bhopal. Abhishek had earlier been training under pistol coach Jaspal Rana at the academy when the national camp wasn’t in progress. At the camp, the pistol shooters will be looked after by the chief foreign coach Pavel Smirnov and Samresh Jung. “I have made up my decision. I will be training on my own. I will be my own coach for future international tournaments. During the camp, I will be seeking advice from the national coaches. But I will mostly look to train on my own. When not part of the camp, I wouldn’t like to be coached by anyone. Shooting is an individual sport and, as a shooter, we mostly have to figure out the game on our own during competitions. So, I’ll be better off coaching myself,” the advocate who practises in the Punjab and Haryana High Court informed.
“There should be some uniformity in coaching. Either you send the personal coaches of every shooter or stick with the national coaches available for all. All this backroom infighting among coaches isn’t good for the team,” he signed off.
