NEW DELHI: Like a man possessed, Ankur Mittal was having a ball here at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range on Monday. Gunning down flying clays with gusto, the double trap shooter achieved his best return in the international circuit — a highly-deserved silver medal his prize.
One of the fresh faces in the national team, the 24-year-old was in contention for the gold medal at one stage, but missed it by a whisker, falling one hit behind Australia’s James Willett, tallying a total of 74. Great Britain’s James Dedman took the final place on the podium.
Ankur was flawless at the start with 30 perfect hits, which gave him the engine to go all the way. “Having passed the initial hurdle, I was motivated to carry on and finish strong,” Ankur, who won gold in the Asian Shooting Championship in 2016, said.
However, doubts started creeping in towards the end. With the crowd totally behind him, he was outdone by nervousness. “I got a bit nervous towards the end. Those misses proved to be costly but never mind I can’t cry over it. Next time, I shall look to do better. I’m happy with my overall effort.”
Having failed at the final hurdle in the last Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, this was a big lift for the young gun, who is looking to establish himself in the senior circuit. His brother Ajay Mittal, also a shooter, revealed that training abroad has lifted his game.
“The talent was always there. He lacked experience earlier. After those misses in CWG and Asiad, he had been training in Italy for the last couple of years. That has definitely helped. He has ironed out his flaws and is a much-improved shooter now,” Ajay revealed.
Given that men’s double trap is set to be dropped in the near future, this result might lose its relevance in the long run. However, Ankur chose to look at the positives. “I can’t help with the calls that ISSF makes. I’m just focused on my shooting. The decision is still not 100 per cent certain. My target is to do well in the Asiad and CWG next year,” he said.
Another Indian Sangram Dahiya was also in the finals but was the first one to get eliminated in sixth spot.
Delight for Heena-Jitu
Earlier, Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu combined well in the 10m air pistol mixed gender event to win gold. Both were delighted with the outcome and were keen to build on the display.
“Well, it is challenging. In an individual event, I’m just focused on myself. But here, I had to think about my partner too. A mishit on anyone’s part can be demoralising. Keeping that in mind, we had to push each other to do well,” Heena observed.
Jitu revealed that the pair barely had time to train together. But he is ready to invest more time and improve further.
“We didn’t get much time to train. But in the end, we managed to hold on. This is a positive result and we will surely keep it up,” he said.
anmol@newindianexpress.com