Divyansh Singh Panwar has been on a big scoring spree in air rife and it was no surprise that he overtook the World record in winning the Lakshya Cup in Mumbai.
The standard XI student from Jaipur, who has been shooting phenomenally well in the National selection trials, asserting his dominance across the men’s, juniors and youth category, repeatedly, has done the ground work to deserve a call in the National squad for the World Cup to be staged at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, in February.
To put things in perspective, Divyansh’s score of 252.3 in the final in Mumbai was better than the world record of 251.2 set by Alexander Dryagin of Russia in the Changwon World Cup in April 2018.
Interestingly, the women’s world record of 252.4 in air rifle is better, and is with Zhao Ruozhu of China who shot the score in the same World Cup in Changwon last year.
More importantly, Divyansh has been highly consistent in the qualification phase as well, with scores of 630.3 in Mumbai, apart from 630.4 and 628.8 in the two trials.
'Focused on the basics'
"I have not done anything different recently. I have focused on the basics and the technique’’, Divyansh told Sportstar .
Divyansh’s father Ashok Panwar who works with the Sawai Man Singh Medical College in Jaipur was more forthright in saying that a bit of discipline in terms of ensuring sleep at the right time, and limited use of the mobile phone by his son, had helped in improving the scores.
READ: Olympic quota winners in the reckoning for World Cup selection
He had a point, as Divyansh had not done that well in the National championship in Kerala, after having represented the country as a junior in the World Championship.
"The food was a problem in Kerala and I was not in best condition’’, said Divyansh.
Eyes on Olympic quota
Right behind the two stalwarts Deepak Kumar and Ravi Kumar who have been consistently representing the country in recent times, Divyansh believes that there is a good chance to win the Olympic quota.
"It is possible. I am not thinking about it much. At the moment, I am thinking about the exams next month’’, said Divyansh.
Shooting will take priority for the young man, who has been guided very well by coach Deepak Dubey in Delhi and the former Asian champion, Olympic finalist and world record holder Suma Shirur during the national camps.
"Suma madam has taught me a lot, and made me technically strong. Deepak sir helps me physically, mentally and technically whenever I train in Delhi’’, said Divyansh.
"Deepak Dubey is like his brother and takes good care of him’’, said Ashok Panwar, who invested Rs 2.30 lakh to get his son a Walther rifle in the middle of 2016.
Figuring in the TOPS list of the Union Sports Ministry, among the juniors to be given support, behind World junior champion Hriday Hazarika, Divyansh knows that if he keeps shooting good scores, he will get all the required support.
A student of Biology at the Maheshwari Public School in Jaipur, who aspires to get into the medical field, Divyansh had started his shooting in 2013, and trains for hours every day at his school and the JDA range in two spells.
Divyansh has proved that he is a good student of the sport and is ready to take the next big step on the global stage.
Comments
SHARE