Respect for medal but disappointed with score, says Anish Bhanwala

NEW DELHI: Anish Bhanwala had mixed feelings on Wednesday. Disappointed with his low scores in the qualification as well as in the final, it contrasted with the thrill of the bronze he managed to win in the 25m rapid fire pistol event at the Asian Rifle and Pistol Shooting Championship here.After narrowly securing a place in the final after the two-stage classification round, where he finished seventh, Bhanwala remained in the hunt for the gold medal before a couple of sub-par shots towards the end abruptly crashed his dreams of a higher finish. Dai Yashioka of Japan won the gold with a total of 31, while Kazakhstan’s Nikita Chiryukin took the silver with 28. Bhanwala finished five shots earlier with 23. Adarsh Singh ended sixth in the 8-shooter final. The team gold went to Kazakhstan, while India and Vietnam got silver and bronze respectively.“I underperformed quite a bit in the qualification, but because the competition was relatively less, I managed to make it into the final. In the final too, I struggled initially, but I did manage to shoot some good series. There were a cou-ple of bad shots in the end too,” Bhanwala said after the contest, “I have respect for the medal but I am disappointed with the score.”The 23-year-old was tied at top position alongside Yash-ioka and Chiryukin after sixth of the eight-series final. He missed three shots in the five-shot seventh series to get eliminated whereas Yashioka shot five and Chiryukin four.Bhanwala said even though he did not get gold, it helped him identify some of the mistakes made during the competition. “I did a very short analysis, but it’s important. Right now, I have maximum clarity about where I’m missing and what I can improve. Usually after winning, we get very happy and forget to analyse. But I won’t even take a break. After competitions, clarity is at its peak. So I will go straight back to training,” he said.Bhanwala said even though the level of competition was not very high, it would help as a busy season unfolds. He cited the example of his experience of participating in World Championships and Asian Games, which he earlier used to see as “mountains.”“Maturity comes with time, how you think about the sport, approach competitions and value medals. Around 2018 when I started, the Asian Games and World Championships felt like mountains. I used to put a lot of pressure on myself. With age and maturity, I now know it’s just another competition,” he said.With the Asian Games and World Championship scheduled to be held this year, the shooter from Karnal said he was on track to peak at the right time. “First, I have to reach the peak towards the end of the season after winning medals in one or two competitions. Right now, the task is just to get to that level,” revealed Bhanwala.He also hoped that he would get accustomed to the changes to the final format in his event soon. “Earlier, we had six shooters on three bases. Now there are eight on two bases.”