Rahi Sarnobat has the heart of a champion

Breathing is the most natural thing we do. We do it from the moment we are born; we do it while we are asleep; we do it in every waking moment; we do it without thinking about it. But try breathing when you are under pressure and you feel the heart going crazy… out of control… affecting you mentally as well as physically. A few days back, India’s rising shooting star Rahi Sarnobat was under the pump as well. She was standing in Changwon (South Korea), shooting in the final of the 25m pistol event at the World Cup, against a home favourite Kim Kyeongae – and in front of a raucous home crowd that was backing it’s star, she was alone. Her heartbeat was getting faster – she was tense. Then, she remembered her coach’s advice; she took a few deep breaths, controlled her heartbeat in a very deliberate manner and then refocused on the targets. [caption id=“attachment_695444” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rahi Sarnobat in action.[/caption] “The first series was tied, the second was tied, the third and fourth I won and then she came back. That’s when the crowd came to life. They were loud and I just told myself that 95 percent of the crowd is with her but… I will keep hitting the targets until they will be silenced,” said Sarnobat. Kim took a 6-4 lead and pushed the Indian to the corner. Facing a must-win situation, Rahi upped the ante and took the sixth and seventh series 3-1 and 2-1, respectively, to win the gold. The young 23-year-old also became the first ever Indian pistol shooter to win an ISSF World Cup gold. But speak to her again – and she’ll tell you it wasn’t all that bad. “There are things that come easily to me and being calm is one of them. I take a few deep breaths and I can control my heartbeat. For others, that is a practised skill. For me, it just comes naturally.” It’s much tougher than Rahi makes it sound. Simply put, if a shooter breathes during his shot, his/her movement may move the gun and throw off the shot. So, breathing techniques are an important, yet often overlooked, part of a shooters skill. The fact that it comes easily to her is perhaps an indication of why in shooting circles, she is known as a natural. There are other reasons too. When she first started off as a pistol shooter in native Kolhapur, they didn’t have a 25 metre range – they still don’t have one – and her coach Ajit Patil was actually a rifle coach. She then started training under Sheila Kanungo – before deciding to go on her own for a year and half. It was during this time of self-training that she qualified for the Olympics by winning a bronze during the World Cup at Fort Benning, USA in May 2011. “When you work on your own, there are things you understand that no amount of coaching can teach you. Of course, coaching helps, but its important for a shooter to understand her strengths and being out on your own helps you mature as a person. You learn to deal with your own problems. You have to figure it all by yourself.” But even if you are a natural, sometimes you need something to push you into a corner. For Rahi, who took up shooting at 17, that was coach Anatoli Puddubny, who was initially brought in by NGO Lakshya to help Rahi but then became the Indian coach too. “Before the preparation for the World Cup began, I would train for 6-7 hours a day. But this time, we decided to do something different. Instead of training ourselves into the ground, we took it ‘easy’ and trained for just two hours a day. It was quality over quantity – that was the approach we took.” She combined it with a slight change of grip and it worked wonders for her. Puddubny, who is obviously pretty fond of her, dropped in from Pune to gift a collage he had made and made a quick exit. This was Rahi’s moment and he didn’t want to get in the way. Not that Rahi would mind. In fact, given how at ease she seemed, it would be surprising to ever see her lose her cool. But she does do that especially when she misses her favourite TV serial ‘Bade Acche Lagte Hain.’ In South Korea, by the time the serial would air in India, it would be 1:30 at night but Rahi couldn’t sleep until she got an update on what had happened. “That’s the only thing. It’s my little indulgence. Everything else is about shooting.” Well, as long as it helps her win gold medals, who are we to complain…