When Anish Bhanwala finished 13th at the Paris Olympics and did not make the six-man final at the shooting range in Chateauroux, he called his father Jagpal Bhanwala. The conversation veered around his first Olympic experience being a positive learning curve and how that experience would shape his future career. On Sunday evening, Bhanwala, who has shown quick strides over the past two years, became the first Indian shooter to win a medal in the men’s 25m rapid shooting event at the World Championships with a silver medal in the final in Cairo, Egypt.
“People ask me about the disappointment in Paris, but then I always saw the Paris Olympics as something that taught me a lot and also gave me the joy of competing on the biggest stage. I took a break of more than four months after Paris just to relax and see the positives of Paris. Sometimes when you are constantly filming, you think a lot, but I just wanted to see Paris as a good memory. Before that, I had put a screenshot on my phone of the rest of the three locations of next month’s World Cup final in Doha as a memory. “My goal is just to give a challenge,” Bhanwala said. Indirect to my mind for a month, but winning the silver medal, India’s first in this event at the World Championships, also ended the disappointments of the 2018, 2022 and 2023 World Championships.” Indian Express From Cairo.
Anish Bhanwala with national coach Ankush Bhardwaj after winning the silver medal at the FIFA World Championships in Cairo. (Image from “Special Arrangement”)
Reboot after Paris
In April this year, Bhanwala participated in the first World Cup of the year in Argentina, followed by the World Cup in Lima. He finished 13th and 11th at the World Cup finals before finishing 18th at the World Cup in Munich in June. This means the last Indian appearance at a World Cup was in Doha in 2023, where they won the bronze medal, another first for India.
“After the break, I was clear in my mind that I would start from the beginning. The focus was getting stronger and I realized that I was changing in the shooting range. I was shooting with different techniques before Tokyo, and it was different before Paris and in Paris. I changed my grip this year and faced some problems before my coach Harpreet Singh perfected me, which suited me,” Bhanwala adds.
On Sunday, Bhanwala achieved a qualifying score of 585-22x to qualify in second place, with Clement Pissaguet topping the qualification with 589 and Zhixin Nie (585), Emmanol Muller (585), Maxim Horodynets (583) and Olivier Guess (582) completing the final lineup of six shooters.
Bhanwala will be tied for second place with Müller, Pissaguet and Horodenets on 16 shots and Ney leads by 17 shots after the fourth series and Jess’ exit in the final. Four each from Bhanwala, Mueller, Horodynets and Bessageut in the next series saw them take a joint lead with Ni shooting two to exit the final.
Two from Bhanwala and Mueller in the next series meant that the Indian faced the first penalty shootout of the final and assured himself of the medal after beating Mueller in the second penalty shootout 4:2. With Mueller eliminated, Bhanwala drew level with Horodynets after each made two out of five attempts, with Bisagate leading with 29 shots.
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Bhanwala and Harodynets then found themselves in a penalty shootout again, this time to decide third place. After both were tied in the first shootout, Bhanwala hit four shots to secure himself the silver before Pisagate won the gold. In all the penalties, Bhanwala took second place. “Yes, penalties can drain your mentality, but then I used to tell myself to just focus on my technique,” says Bhanwala.
London Olympics silver medalist Vijay Kumar Sharma, who was in the field when 15-year-old Bhanwala became the national champion in 2017, believes the medal will make Bhanwala more mature in terms of intense rapid-fire pistol training. “Whenever I have competed against Anish in recent years, I have been impressed with his teaching ability and he has made improvements in his shooting in a short period of time at the senior level as well. This silver medal at the World Championships shows that he is developing into what we call a ‘mature’ shooter in Rapid Fire. In the coming years, consistency will also be the key to staying with the style that suits him,” Sharma said.
© Indian Express Private Limited
(tags for translation)Anish Bhanwala
