Soon after the selection trials for the ISSF World Championships concluded in Bhopal on August 29, shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar boarded a train for New Delhi. On reaching the national capital, he boarded another train for Amritsar, Punjab. The 21-year-old shooter from Madhya Pradesh was rushing to the city as he had to appear in examinations. Interestingly, by then he had already missed three papers but Aishwary was desperate to take the remaining examinations to clear the backlog. "I had already missed first and second year examinations in the last two years. This year, I was determined to appear in as many papers as I can," Aishwary told this daily.
Having won 50m rifle 3 positions gold in the Junior World Championships last year, Aishwary is looking to book a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Senior Worlds scheduled from October 12 to 25 in Cairo, Egypt on his debut. While he had already booked his place in the national team for the event, he took part in the trials to secure a spot in prone as well as air rifle events.
"Except for prone, the other two are Olympic events. During the trials, I got selected in the prone event and finished fourth in air rifle. The aim is to earn an Olympic quota in 50m rifle 3 positions at the Worlds," he added. Having already done that in the past, the shooter hopes for a better result this time. For the record, Aishwary represented the country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics finishing 21st in 50m rifle 3 positions.
As far as academics are concerned, Aishwary is pursuing Bachelor of Physical Education and Sports from Guru Nanak Dev University. "I was in Croatia in 2020 and had to miss first year examinations. Examinations were online then but I cannot take them because of the time difference. I was competing next year as well and had to miss examinations."
Despite his meteoric rise in rifle 3 positions in the last couple of years, Aishwary admitted he is a bit worried about his education. "Honestly, it worries me as I had already missed quite a few examinations. At times, it gets difficult to prepare because of the tournaments, trials and camp but that is bound to happen and I cannot escape it. My university understands my situation and has given me the privilege to clear the backlog when and as possible."
Given the situation he is in, Aishwary has no option but to learn to juggle between the sport and studies. "I try to prepare online whenever I am free. The study material is available online and that helps me to a great extent. Besides, I prepare using examination papers from previous years."
After taking back-to-back examinations for the first and second year, Aishwary is hoping to hone his skills ahead of the Worlds as he believes success in the shooting range will compensate for the losses he has been suffering on the education front.
Know Aishwary
Age: 21
Main event: 50m rifle 3 positions
World ranking: 4
Finished 21st at Tokyo
Junior World Championships gold in 2021
Senior World Cup gold in 2022