Sumedha Pathak beats out ‘inspiration' Rubina Francis for Para World Cup shooting gold
Moments after 28-year-old Sumedha Pathak won her first WSPS World Cup individual gold in the women's P2 10m air pistol SH1 final in Changwon, Korea, she was hugged by Paris Paralympics bronze medallist and compatriot Rubina Francis, who finished seventh in the same category. For Sumedha, who edged out another Indian, Shrishti Arora, to win the gold with a score of 235.2, and many of her peers, Francis is an inspiration.
'Rubina mam has always been an inspiration for me and other shooters and whenever we compete at the shooting range, we see each other as inspiration as well motivating,' Sumedha told The Indian Express from Changwon, Korea.
Daughter of pharmaceutical entrepreneur Brijesh Chandra Pathak, a young Sumedha would always be keen in her studies as well as listening about her father's social work in their hometown of Varanasi. In 2013, after complaining of fever and body pains, she was diagnosed with Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis resulting in spinal paralysis. The Pathak family would then spend months in hospitals in Delhi as well Kolkata before the youngster recovered, with her body movement below her chest being completely nil.
'After spending more than a year in recovery at different hospitals, when we returned home, the first thing I told Sumedha was to have belief that we will excel in whatever way we can. We live in a joint family and the entire family ensured that Sumedha always remained focussed on her goals whether it be studies or whatever field she chose,' says father Brijesh Chandra Pathak.
Sumedha would top the CBSE 12th exam in commerce stream in specially abled division in India with 91.04 percent in 2016. It was in 2018 that her father, along with consultation with international shooters Asif and Ajit Singh Suryavanshi and coach Santosh Tiwari, got a makeshift shooting range built at their home.
While Sumedha would start with pistol shooting, the coaches would face the problem of setting the right posture for the youngster. 'Sumedha's body movement is very restricted and hence we could not make her start in rifle shooting. Initially, when she started pistol shooting, her upper body would fall ahead. So we would start with the dry shooting part, working to increase her upper body and shoulder strength. Once we could achieve the right posture and balance on a wheelchair, we increased shots to 40-60 shots daily and she would train for 2-3 hours,' remembers coach Santosh Tiwari.
Father Brijesh too talks about the initial struggles. 'While we had built the shooting range at the parking space of our home, Sumedha used to spend a lot of time for physiotherapy sessions too. During 2020-2021, early Covid-19 times, we got a new range built inside our home. We are lucky that the whole shooting community of Varanasi and UP would support her. (When the new) shooting range (came up) in Varanasi in 2024, it meant that the likes of Sumedha could dream of training at a world class facility one day in Varanasi,' says Pathak.
In 2022, Sumedha made the Indian Para shooting team and was part of the Indian pistol team which won the silver medal in the WSPS World Cup in France and Korea respectively. In 2023, Sumedha finished seventh in women's P2 10m air pistol SH1 in the Hangzhou Asian Para Games. 'In shooters like Sumedha, the main challenge for coaches is to strike a balance between the upper body strength suited for their shooting style. While the technique can be tweaked based on the posture, the upper body strength has to be the strongest and she has been able to work on that,' says national para pistol coach Subash Rana.
In Khelo India Para Games in March this year, Sumedha had scored a score of 237.5 to win the gold. On Monday, she qualified at the second spot with a score of 565 behind Francis, who shot 566. In the final, Sumedha was placed third after the second series before she made her way to the gold medal elimination round followed by her winning the gold with a score of 235.2. 'The Khelo India gold made Sumedha believe that she can win big in finals too and to edge out Rubina then also helped her confidence. While she has won team medals before, this Individual gold is a new beginning for her,' says Jaiprakash Nautiyal, chief coach Indian Para Shooting team.
Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story 'Harmans of Moga', Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women's cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.
An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin's interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More
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