Solapur's 16-yr-old 10m air rifle shooter becomes India's 9th champ at global level
PUNE: It was difficult for Parth Mane to sleep on Monday night and his prompt reply to TOI's text at 12.15 am (Peru time) was proof of his excitement.
Rightly so, it had been only a few hours since 16-yearold Parth had become Junior World Champion in the men's 10m air rifle category in Lima, Peru. On his way to the gold, Parth defeated a strong field of shooters that included Paris Olympics silver medallist Victor Lindgren of Sweden, who finished fourth. The last edition's champion Romain Aufrere of France finished sixth.
Parth shot 250.7 in the final for the top spot. Reigning Asian junior champion Huang Liwanlin of China was second with 250. USA's Wayne Braden Peiser was third with 229.1.
"I was actually not able to sleep. It has not sunk in yet, I just hope I get some sleep," Parth told TOI from Lima after his match. "My scores in the qualification round were not satisfactory, but I did well in the final. I wasn't thinking much about my qualification and tried to focus only on the process I usually follow in the finals."
Parth has thus contributed to the rich legacy of India producing World Champions both junior and senior. The country has now nine winners in less than 20 years. Navnath Fartade (Junior 10m AR, 2006), Abhinav Bindra (10m AR, 2006), Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Trap, 2006), Tejaswini Sawant (50m rifle prone, 2010), Ankur Mittal (double trap, 2018), Om Prakash Mitharval (50m pistol, 2018), Hriday Hazarika (Junior 10m AR, 2018), Rudrankksh Patil (10m AR, 2022) and Parth Mane (Junior 10m AR, 2024) had clinched the World Championship gold.
Barring Sawant, Mittal and Mitharval, all World Champions won the events which were a part of Olympics programme.
Parth had qualified fourth for the eight-man final after shooting 627.7.
Other Indians in fray, Ajay Malik and Abhinav Shaw, finished fifth and seventh respectively. Along with the individual gold, Parth also clinched the team gold with Malik and Shaw.
Parth, who was born in Solapur, shifted to Mumbai in 2021 and started training under national coach Suma Shirur. "I started shooting as a hobby sport, but then I realised that I could take it more than just a hobby, I felt the need of a good coach. It was then I decided to train with Suma mam in Navi Mumbai," Parth said.
His coach Suma said Parth's temperament is his biggest strength. "He is too calm for his age. He is only 16 but has the temperament of a grown-up man and that makes him better than the kids of his age. He came to my academy as a 13-year-old, and we had to work on grooming him technically and mentally. He has been shooting only for the past four years but has shown immense potential," the proud coach said.
Parth's father, an Assistant Police Inspector with the Crime Investigation Department, said the stars were aligned for them as he got a transfer from Solapur to Mumbai. "Just when we were looking for a training facility, I got transferred to Mumbai. After coming to Mumbai, we got to know about Lakshya Shooting Academy and got him enrolled there," Rakesh Mane said.
