Swapnil given key ring to ward off evil in Paris, says coach Deepali | Olympic Games News

Akhil and Shriyanka, both 50m rifle three-position shooters, had secured an Olympic quota place for their country but failed to qualify for the Games after the Olympic selection rounds conducted by the National Rifle Association of India.

“The three of us — me, Akhil and Shriyanka — have been together for years and they take care of me whenever I am in Delhi. We share a very strong bond. Akhil is like my brother and Shriyanka is like my sister. We are like a family when we are in camp or at a competition… so many years we have spent together since our junior days,” Swapnil told PTI on Saturday.

Swapnil, who hails from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, says former international shooter Deepali’s hard work helped him in his first Olympics.

“Deepali ma’am is like a second mother to me. She has been watching me shoot since 2012. She knows what I need, when I get emotional or what makes me sad… what makes me happy. So that mother-son relationship goes back to my early days as a shooter. She has intricately delved into every aspect of my shooting,” says Swapnil, who missed out on a medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year only because of a single bad shot.

In Pune he prefers to train with another experienced shooter and former 50m rifle world champion, Tejaswini.

“Teju di (Tejaswini) is like my elder sister. She is an Olympian and a very experienced shooter. We both come from Kolhapur, so we train together in Pune. If I make a mistake in shooting, she corrects it immediately,” said the TTE with the Indian Railways.

“My dream is not yet complete. It is to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. That is my goal. The medal I won in Paris is normal for me, and a stage close to my dream, if I may say so,” he says.

“When I came fourth in the Asian Games, I had a trauma. But my psychologist dealt with it very well and prepared me on how to ignore the Hangzhou debacle.

“It’s not that I haven’t learnt a lot from great shooters like Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang and RVS Rathore.

“I can relate more to Dhoni because he was a ticket inspector in the railways and I am also a TC. We all have seen the movie (MS Dhoni: The Untold Story) where he wanted to fulfil his dream of becoming a cricketer and followed his instincts. I have a similar mindset.

“Another thing that really stands out about Dhoni is his calm temperament. He never gets upset, no matter what the situation is. These are the same things that we need in shooting. One bad shot and we get upset. So, we don’t have to do that, but stay calm. That’s the most important thing. These are the things that I have learnt from Dhoni,” he added.

First publication: Aug 24, 2024 | 8:11 PM IST