Can Apurvi Chandela, Jitu Rai Win Olympic Medals In Their Maiden Appearance?

Apart from Sania Mirza clinching the No.1 rank in Women's Doubles, one of the prominent sporting achievements over the weekend has been Apurvi Chandela's Olympic quota. It came at the Changwon World Cup after she shot a bronze. Her score was 185.6. She was 23.5 points behind the 10-m Air Rifle gold medal winner Pejcic Snjezana of Croatia and 22.1 points behind 2nd placed Ivana Maksimovic.

Any coach in the modern world of competitive shooting will tell you that it is a huge gap to bridge. But the biggest advantage for the 22 year old is that she has qualified almost a year in advance to iron out chinks in her armour. That said, the Jaipur girl also has the blessings of Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), a trust that came into being in 2007.(Chandela Wants to be on Top of her Game in Rio)

That same year they signed on Gagan Narang to support his Olympic dreams. And when Gagan failed to qualify on countback for the finals of the Beijing Olympics (when Abhinav Bindra won the Gold), OGQ stood firm by him. The Hyderabadi eventually went onto win a bronze in the 10-m Air Rifle at the London Olympics, four years later.(Chandela Qualifies for Rio)

Most Indian top athletes have won their medals in their 2nd or 3rd attempts. Abhinav and Gagan won in their third Olympics, Saina, Leander in 2nd attempt and so on. However Vijay Kumar and MC Marykom are few notable exceptions to that list.

Gagan Narang has told NDTV, "What worked for me in London was that I made it the most important thing to achieve. Hence I gave it my all. Having lost narrowly in Beijing, London was a do or die match for me."

However Gagan is a classic case of an athlete responding well under pressure.

That does not work for everyone. Shot gun shooter Ronjon Sodhi fell to pressure. He had distanced himself from his family, young kid, parents and friends and trained in Italy for the most part. Many even said he had become a recluse. Having battled weight issues, he lost almost 25 Kg, adjusted the shotgun and shut away from so many things, Ronjan just built humongous pressure on himself.

Archery's blue-eyed girl Deepika Kumari said after her London Olympics failure, " I must admit that I was bogged down by pressure. There is pressure on everybody but the main part is how you deal with it, so that it does not affect your performance."

Performance Trainer Vaibhav Agashe has told NDTV," At Olympics there is a lot at stake, sporting glory, fame, money. There is little difference between 3rd and 4th place. But in reality it is a big difference between being famous for life , financially being set or being forgotten completely and struggling through life."

And that is a trap the Indian athletes fall into, more often than not.

"If you let your mind dwell too much about what's at stake, then the occasion gets to you. Olympics is like a huge village fair , too many distractions. It's easy to lose your focus quickly. Or easy to be burdened by expectations," says Agashe

Perhaps that is a trap that most Indian athletes get into, time and again. British journalist, broadcaster and Table Tennis player Mathew Syed has written in his book Bounce, "The idea is to be un-inhibited." And that is an adjective often used for Jitu Rai. The pistol shooter has had a sensational 2014 and the challenge for him would be to continue to peak.

Gagan Narang says," Technically you can be as good as anyone on the field. But after a while it is all a metal battle. A champion hangs in there one second longer when everyone else has quit."

Gagan was a part of the 11-member shooting team that qualified for the London Olympics. This time around Jitu and Apurvi have secured quotas so far. Post the World Cup in Changwon, the rifle and pistol shooters will have four more opportunities to earn quota places while the shot gunners can have as many as five attempts. With 28 more places up for grabs, the NRAI has kept it at a realistic target of 15.