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Indian shooters Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, and Rudrankksh Patil smashed the world record in the men's 10m Air Rifle team event to win the first gold medal for the country at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023. The trio finished with a tally of 1893.7 to break China's record of 1893.3 which they achieved at the Baku World Championships 2023.
While Divyansh finished in top eight, he could not advance to the men's 10m Air Rifle individual final as the regulations permit only two shooters from a country. But it did not dampen his spirits as he felt proud of what he achieved on September 25.
“It is a proud moment for me. I believed that our team will get a gold medal because we have worked so hard. I want to thank the federation, SAI, team, and support staff for helping me,” he told Sports Tak in an exclusive interview with Sports Tak.
Like many youngsters in India, Divyansh used to play PUBG on his smartphone. His father nudged him towards shooting in order to reduce his screen time and increase outdoor activity. However, he revealed that the story is exaggerated.
“The story is exaggerated. My father put me in shooting as he wanted me to do outdoor activities. One of my relatives used to work as a guard at the shooting range so he suggested that to my father. That’s how it started,” he said.
The 20-year-old started out as an athlete who was not serious about taking shooting as a profession. However, as he progressed and fine-tuned his game, he realised that he could achieve more with little more seriousness towards the sport.
“It wasn't challenging for me in the first six years. I used to consider it as time pass. I used to do it during my school and college days. When I started getting selected for the squad and the camp it motivated me. I thought that I should approach it seriously. If I have reached here without much hard work, I should do a little more,” the youngster said.
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