Olympics-bound Divyansh Singh Panwar targets Board exams ahead of Tokyo 2020
Indian teenage shooter Divyansh Singh Panwar is busy preparing for the Board exams in the midst of his preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Published : Feb 13, 2020 20:54 IST
After dominating the European circuit, preparing for the season by winning six gold medals from seven competitions spread over three countries, Indian shooter Divyansh Singh Panwar is busy juggling books and preparation for the Tokyo Olympics.
Coach Deepak Dubey, who has been guiding Divyansh for the last five years, had accompanied the boy on the European circuit and was quite pleased with the preparations.
"The board exams are coming up. But, Divyansh has to shoot the Delhi World Cup in March. He did not make the final in Delhi last time, so he is keen. Moreover, all the Olympic quota winners from around the world will be competing in this World Cup. It will be good for him to compete with them and learn more about nurturing the righ temperament. Equally, it is important in the perspective of selection of the Indian team for the Olympics," said coach Deepak.
Divyansh , a twelfth standard student, will be appearing for two papers for the Board exam, and a request to the Central Board of Security Education (CBSE) has already been routed through the National federation and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to help him have his other exams at a later date, when he does not have international competition.
Even as Divyansh is going through the High Performance training camp at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) of the Jindal Sports Foundation (JSW) in Vijayanagar, coach Deepak observed that the ground work for the season has been done well.
"Divyansh shot three high scores 633.9, 632.2 and 632.4 in three different competitions in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. It was important to compete with the European shooters, to become more tough mentally. And also to get more information about the technical aspects of the rifle. It was a great experience to train at the oldest range in the world in Munich. It was good to work out in different climate and time zone. The best part was, every morning we used to have exercise and walk at the beach. It was great weather and gave us more energy and enthusiasm towards the sport," recalled Deepak, quite thoughtful in giving credit to the NRAI and SAI for ensuring best possible preparation.
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Once he finishes the training in Vijayanagar with the JSW on February 16, Divyansh will be spending more time with the books.
The technical aspect of preparation for the Tokyo Olympics in July has already been addressed.
"After the H&N Cup in Munich, in which Divyansh won gold, the Walther company has assured all support for the rifle," said Deepak, who has also helped the boy select barrel matching pellets during the European tour.
Deepak is impressed with the clarity of approach of Divyansh.
"He is very clear in his mind and about his goal. He is hard working, especially when he is on the firing lane. He has sharp and focused mind," said Deepak.
Divyansh may be carrying his books all the time to prepare for the Board exams, but there is no doubt that he is a better student of the shooting sport, especially in the way he wound up 2019 as the world No.1 in air rifle and has continued to assert his stature thereafter.