Calm in adversity: Rudransh Khandelwal wins Para gold the same way he dealt with losing left foot

It was in January 2015 that the then seven-year-old Rudransh suffered shrapnel injuries due to the cracker explosion and the following days would see the family spending time going to various hospitals in Jaipur and Delhi for the treatment. “While we would spend the next days anxiously visiting different hospitals, he would keep his cool. Post the operation, he would spend time watching cartoons at the hospital during his recovery time and would also tell us to be joyful,” recalls mother Vinita, who is a Civics lecturer in Bharatpur.

A young Rudransh Khandelwal. (Special Arrangement)

Post his recovery, the Khandelwals would spend months finding the right prosthetic. The search would end at P&O International, a special prosthetic company in New Delhi. “My husband and I did not want Rudransh to use a support. We wanted him to believe that he is at par with anybody,” Vinita says.

Within a year of getting the prosthetic, Khandelwal would start shooting at the SBN Shooting Academy under coach Sumit Rathi. “Kids between the ages of 8-10 would come and train dry shooting with us. In the case of Rudransh, I had to sit and hold the pistol and make him shoot. For the first six months, we did that just to make him understand the precision aspect of shooting. And slowly, I started shooting him in a standing position. Once we were able to find the perfect balancing position, which also required a lot of physical work, we worked on his grip,” the coach recalls.

Khandelwal too remembers the early stages of his career. The Delhi University student remembers one incident which helped him understand one of the early lessons of life. ‘During one of the state competitions, my prosthetic leg broke. I along with coach sir had to do jugaad with screws and other stuff to repair it and it was a lesson for me that I have to stand on my own come what may. Sometimes, the nerves in my thigh would swell due to continuous standing as we increased shooting shots from 30 shots to 100 shots but then I knew I had to suffer if I had to pursue my passion, which is shooting,” Rudransh says.

The youngster would first break into the national para shooting team in 2022 and won his first world cup medal in WSPS World Cup in Osijek, Croatia in 2023 with a gold in P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH 1 Category, where he also created the new world record score of 231.1. He followed up with another gold in the same World Cup with the title in the P1 Men’s 10m air pistol SH 1 Event with a new junior world record. He won two silver medals in World Championships in Lima the same year apart from winning two silver medals in 2023 Asian Para Games. “Rudransh’s strength has been competing in both 50m and 10m events and the way he has managed to find a posture suited to his shooting style in both the events,” says national para pistol coach Subhash Rana.

While the youngster had missed the final of the men’s 10m air pistol SH 1 by just one spot in Paris Paralympics, the Indian shooter finished seventh in qualification with a score of 564. In the final, Khandewal was placed sixth after the second series. The elimination rounds saw Khandewal climbing from sixth spot to the gold medal position, edging out compatriot Narwal, by 0.3 points for the gold. “Rudransh maintained his calm while being close to the elimination zone once in the final and the comeback would add to his confidence a lot,” says Jaiprakash Nautiyal, chief coach Indian Para Shooting team.

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