‘Hunger to win most important’

NEW DELHI: Shooting is again India’s best medal bet at the Rio Olympics. The discipline put the country on the podium in the last three Games, and the consistency of Indian shooters at world level gives rise to optimism. Of India’s four shooting medals in the Olympics, Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s double trap silver at the 2004 Athens Games was a path-breaking effort. It gave Indian shooters the belief they were second to none. Abhinav Bindra went a step ahead, becoming India’s first individual Olympic medallist by winning the 10m air rifle in Beijing four years later. Vijay Kumar (25m rapid fire silver) and Gagan Narang (10m air rifle bronze) added to the medal kitty at London 2012.

In this interview, Rathore, the minister of state for information and broadcasting, lays threadbare the mind of a champion shooter and the challenge of staying motivated once one becomes an established star. Excerpts:

How hard or easy it is for a shooter to replicate his success?

It’s not about how hard or easy, the most important thing is how hungry you are. And to realise that most of these achievements, especially in shooting, is related to your mind. So, your approach to the competition... obviously all the hard work you have done and all the training you have done comes from the hunger (to succeed), and the approach comes from the mind. These two things are critical.

Performance is largely driven by what is going on in your mind. Vincent Hancock (US two-time Olympic skeet champion) could be a great example for Abhinav, and then there is German pistol shooter, Ralf Schumann. They are great examples for Abhinav and others. Hancock is someone I have spoken to often as we are in the sport of flying targets; (he is) an extremely disciplined person. He keeps it extremely simple, and that’s why every competition he goes to, he is in the reckoning. He is in the armed forces and is committed to keep the flag of his armed forces as well as his country flying high. This can be replicated by Abhinav or anybody else. These are a couple of things that are critical for somebody to do well or keep repeating his achievement.

So, were you hungrier in Athens than Beijing?

There was a difference of day and night. Before Athens, I hardly had any resources. And after Athens, I had lots of resources… Resources don’t make you a champion. Resources can help you become a champion. But the most crucial thing is the hunger, the will to achieve it, the will to apply knowledge, the will to put that knowledge into action. It is the will to put those thousand hours of practice with single-minded dedication, not just going through the routine. For example, after Athens I remember saying this somewhere that I’ll redefine the definition of hard work. But it is not just pure hard work; it has to be backed by tremendous focus, ability to absorb what you are doing. To simplify, not make it difficult. So, hard work can make things difficult for you.

So, basically it is simplicity then?

This sport can be very complicated. Within a second multitude of things are happening in three dimensional… targets are flying, your body can move in so many dimensions, your mind can move in many more dimensions. Anything can go wrong. But as you train and come closer to the event, your process of shooting the target needs to become simpler by the day. Let us say you had 15-16 key words or sentences a month prior to the competition. By the day of your competition or closer to it, it should just be a key word, just one word. So, if you say that one word, it puts your mind, body and soul in that exact process to deliver the shot. So, when it does become this simple then your mind is not cluttered; that’s why it remains focused and positive. And even if you miss a target, it doesn’t panic, it is totally in control.

So, like a coach would say that your subconscious needs to take control of everything. It is the horse in darkness which will take you to the stable. You let loose the reins and it’ll take you to the stable; you have got to trust the horse because he knows the way. So, you got to trust your subconscious. And you will only trust your subconscious once you know it is very simple.

Can you be specific about resources?

Coaches can guide you how to win, but they cannot win it for you. You and your mind have to be ready for that moment, when you are isolated to fight through that moment and to win it. Also, if you have read the book “The Sweet Spot” by Geet Sethi, it says the love of the game is because of the sound of the ball hitting the centre of the bat when you begin playing. Or (hitting the centre) of a tennis racquet or golf club. When you hit nice and solid, the sound is so sweet you love it.

You play for that because that is your initial love. But gradually, once you are exposed to the environment, and there are various factors that start coming into your game, you get distracted from the beauty of the sport. So, my mind and shooting became extremely complicated somewhere around 2007-2008. Till 2006 it was pure, and I was winning. 2007-08 I’d probably lost that hunger to play the game for the love of it. So, that is very crucial.

It was only after 2009, I’d left my weapon for one full year, that’s when my son (Manavditya) was beginning to learn shooting and I wouldn’t even go and train him. He was shooting all alone. For his moral support, my mother used to be standing with him or my wife would be there. It came to a stage where they told me ‘what kind of father are you? Your son is trying to shoot and you are not even standing with him’. So, reluctantly I walked out and stood there. He was then eight or nine and was shooting flying target. So, when I started teaching him I brought it down to the basics. And when I did that, I realised how far I’d gone from the basics of the sport. I had made it extremely complicated.

Can you break it down further?

How I won my first international medal, the 2002 Commonwealth Games gold, was by reading what my opponents are doing because I didn’t have the luxury of spending a long time with coaches. It was a military mind working. The first thing you are taught in military is ‘what is your information and what is the enemy’s information’? You start from there. My information, I knew. And what I gained, I used that info to beat him (Richard Faulds). I told him I had been reading your articles, because somewhere you will say how you are preparing. That 2002 CWG double trap final had Faulds (Olympic champion), the silver medallist (Russel Mark) and then world record holder (Michael Diamond). They were all one point behind me in the final. I could do that by learning things from my opponent.

Is starting early an advantage?

As a 16-year-old when you start, Abhinav started at 14 or 15, and that is the right age to start. Hancock started when he was say 10-years-old. When you learn from that stage, by the time you come to international level, you are seasoned. I was not seasoned; I was the guy who was thrown there by my own will, to try and achieve something for the country. It was like a mission. I used to be exposed to people humiliating Indians. ‘Indians can’t win. Olympics? Indians don’t win at Olympics,’ Things like that. I did that and it fuelled me. Abhinav has a great advantage, he is seasoned. Abhinav had mentioned somewhere that my Olympic silver made it easy for him to win gold because the belief came in. So, all that changed was the tempering of the mind. So Abhinav is much stronger than I was, many others were.