Asian Shooting Championships: In quest to reach potential, Anish Bhanwala takes the rough with the smooth

Even though the 23-year-old hit a qualification score of 574 – poor by his recent standards – it doesn’t set the alarm bells ringing. This is a lesson to be learned, not a war to be waged within the mind. “I think maturity comes with time. How we think about the sport, how we approach a competition or the value of medals,” says Bhanwala. “For everyone it remains the same but for shooters it keeps on changing. I remember the 2018 Asian Games and World Championship were like a mountain for me to climb. And I put so much pressure on myself. But with age and maturity now I know it is just another competition. The firing points are the same, weapon ammunition, everything is the same. It is just about managing what is going on inside.”

Getting a grip

At the final range on Wednesday, Bhanwala was going through a range of emotions – but most of it was to do with his pistol grip. It’s an issue that has plagued him for years now. Currently using a copy of his original grip, the shooter struggled at the nationals and the domestic trials and those issues followed at the Asian Championships where he made the eight-man final.

“I recently made a copy of my grip which I am using right now. Earlier I was using a hand-made mold. It is from the best grip makers in the world. But there is always a little bit of difference. Sometimes it suits you and sometimes it doesn’t. My original mold is already on the way from Germany,” says Bhanwala.

He goes on to explain that usually he selects a grip that works the best, and then the manufacturer makes a mold of that iteration but because it’s a wooden hand-made object, perfection isn’t a guarantee.

Ask him about the gut-feel physics of using a mold that he already knows isn’t working, and he becomes philosophical. “It is a crazy situation. But we have to manage with it. If you go and ask pistol shooters honestly ‘Are you happy with the grip?’ Many of them will have question marks. We are always removing something, putting something in there. It is an honest answer,” he adds.

On Wednesday, Bhanwala started his final decently, making three out of his first five shots and then followed it with a perfect series and then two series’ where he missed the target just once. It was in the later half of the event where things went south. But Bhanwala, moments after the end of the event, was itching to get back into the range.

“Right now I have maximum clarity – where I’m missing, what I can improve. Usually after winning, I’m happy and I forget about the match. But I think I will not even take a break and go back to the training sessions to make sure of what I’m missing,” he says. With a packed year that includes the Asian Games and the World Championships, the expectations placed on his shoulders will once again be sky high. “First I have to prepare myself to reach my peak. It isn’t rocket science or hard work… just smart work,” he adds.