— Boria Majumdar, Rohan Chowdhury
Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil. India’s best bet for an Olympics medal in shooting in Paris 2024. Having won a quota already, Rudra Patil is arguably one of the most consistent shooters in the world at the moment. He won gold in the Cairo world cup and two bronze medals in Bhopal. In fact, it was after a while that he did not win gold in a major competition. How does Rudra see his efforts in Bhopal and his competition with the Chinese shooters? Will the bronze push him to work harder and get better? How confident is he and how is he looking at the next 18 months till the Paris Olympics?
A candid and matter of fact Rudra answered all questions we asked of him. And may we say we feel India has certainly got an athlete who we can bank on in the years to come.
Excerpts from the conversation with Boria Majumdar and Rohan Chowdhury.
A Revsportz Exclusive.
Boria/Rohan: How was the pressure in the final?
Rudra: Actually, the final was one of the toughest I have played. It was the most pressure I have felt ever. Maybe because it was happening in our own country and that played a huge role it in and may be because of this I created automatic pressure on myself. Also the energy of the crowd was such that it was encouraging me and also creating pressure on me at the same time.
Having said that I have the habit of handling pressure quite well and I was slowly adapting to the crowd as the final proceeded. At the start I was uncomfortable but as the final proceeded, I was able to get a hang of it. If you see the other world cups happening in other countries the cheering and clapping for India is not that much. It is always a much quieter area as compared to this World Cup. This was the loudest final and that was something new for me. But when we were discussing with our coaches before hand and they told us this was the best preparation we could get with loud crowd support so we should look at it in a positive way.
Boria/Rohan: In Paris you will have a lot of Indian support. Fans will scream the loudest. You need to be ready for the crowd to be able to win there.
Rudra: Exactly! That’s why I am saying this was one of the best finals possible for me to be ready for the Paris Olympics.
Boria/Rudra: Tell us when you got into the 4th position towards the end of the ranking round and could have missed the medal how tough was that period? What was going through your mind? Were you a little upset? Also were you a little tired?
Rudra: Basically because we played Cairo not too long ago and winning a world cup medal is emotionally and physically very draining, I was tired. When competitions happen back to back, you feel tired and jaded. You need at least 1 month to get back into top shape. The same situation happened with me some time ago, like after the World Championship we had the Asian Championship and over there I stood fourth and the match was not that good. Basically my whole body was vibrating. I don’t know the reason but the thing is when you play a major match you need downtime to get back into shape again. You need downtime emotionally and physically. So after coming fourth in Korea last year, I was pretty sad but then it was also important for me to push myself and see how much I can come back if there are back to back competitions like in Cairo and now here in Bhopal. I had planned my recovery and training and whatever I have been able to do is because of that plan.
Also the main difference in Bhopal was the pressure. We knew it would be there because our family members and coaches will come to watch the matches and there will be a lot of cheering going on. So the challenge was to see how can I handle the pressure when I am tired and push myself. Again, when I did not shoot well in the first series of the ranking round I was feeling disappointed that how can I shoot so bad. It all boiled down to me trying something different and getting myself back into the zone physically and mentally so that I could make my way back in the final. That’s when I tried something different and it eventually worked over a period of time.
Boria/Rohan: Are you satisfied then with your overall performance in the Bhopal World Cup? In the mixed event you were in top shape. Thoughts?
Rudra: It was a changed format this year. We used to have our mixed events after our individual events earlier. But in Cairo also I had the same issue, the mixed event was one day before the individual event and next day I was down in energy. Here, if I have to say, I am not satisfied with the colour of the medal but I was much more energetic and more motivated. The bronze is actually good because now I know there are others who are better than me and I need to work harder for the next title. Not always is a gold the best result. Now that I have lost, I know there are people better than me. They are shooting better. And to be the best I need to get better than them. That’s exactly what I will now do. I have also closely observed what some of them are doing and will want to adapt a few things into my game as well. That’s how you can improve more.
Boria/Rohan: With the Asian Games and Paris Olympics coming up how are you looking forward to the next eighteen months?
Rudra: Next match is in Baku, Azerbaijan in May and currently after competing with the Chinese you know where you stand. They too had enough time to prepare and you could see that here. It is our turn now. My Coaches and I have learnt a few things from them as well and we will now try them out so that we can improve a bit more. Rest assured I will be ready for the Asian Games and then Paris in 2024. In Baku I will be playing the world cup because I am not eligible for the world championships and I will try a few new things there so that I know if they are working or not.
Boria/Rohan: At this point in shooting you are perhaps India’s best bet. Does that put an extra pressure on you or are you ok with that and treat it as an opportunity?
Rudra: I don’t see it that way. Even in India there are shooters who shoot better than me on a particular day. The only thing I try to do is shoot the best on the day when it really matters. That’s what it all about. You can shoot superbly all-round the year but then if you falter at the Olympics what’s the point? I am trying to keep my improvement rate constant. And if you keep on winning golds then eventually your growth rate decreases and the scope for improvement narrows down. You tend to think you are the best so where is the opportunity to improve more? That’s why I am saying that winning a bronze over here was a good thing for me because it keeps me motivated and keeps me on the ground and tells me that there are lots of areas to improve on. I will now work on my game and I can assure you I am looking forward to the World Cup in Baku and also the Asian Games.
