21-05-2025
Balancing exercises, fast-paced shooting behind Kanak's medal display
CHENNAI: It was a tense battle among some of the brightest youngsters at the Shooting Center in Suhl, Germany on Wednesday. In the eight-woman final, India's Kanak Budhwar emerged the brightest as she captured the gold medal, handing India's first yellow metal in the ongoing ISSF Junior World Cup.
After opening with 9.9, 9.4 and 9.5 (scores that's considered below-par), she retained her cool to stay in the hunt before going on to finish as topper with an aggregate score of 239 ahead of Olympian Anna Dulce, who garnered 237.3 in the junior women's 10m air pistol event. It's her first gold medal at this level and this is a step in the right direction for the 17-year-old from Haryana, who has lofty ambitions to be part of the 2028 Olympics. This outcome certainly means a world to Sandeep Nehra, her coach. Kanak, who's from Sunaria Village in Rohtak district, has been training at the Abhinandan Shooting Academy (Rohtak) under Sandeep for some time. It was Kanak's father who introduced to the sport and her family been a massive support for her. "I'm really thrilled. There's no words to describe this moment. My dream was for her to win gold. In the Junior World Championships last year, we won a silver medal. In other national competitions also, she had bagged silver. Our dreams have come true," he told this daily.
Kanak's association with the sport began just five or so years ago. Sandeep said that they initially worked on her physical aspect. That is something that's bearing fruit. "She had first visited me during the pandemic. She was still a kid, she was 30-something kgs then. Initially, with the support of her parents, we worked on adding weight. We changed her diet so that she could gain weight. We decided against taking part in the nationals as she was not prepared mentally and she was not strong physically as well. We initially wanted her to be strong."
Technology has also aided her progress. Sandeep revealed that they had been using scatt — a system that helps shooters practice their technique without needing to fire live rounds — since last year or so. SCATT is a useful training tool that helps shooters record various shooting metrics like trigger pull, shot dispersion etc.
"We started using scatt and balancing excercise. By sitting behind her, it's impossible to judge those things. So SCATT helps in that regard. So we figured out what mistakes she was making and we worked on those mistakes. We had been at it ever since the conclusion of the junior World Championships," he noted.
"One thing we found out was that there was a delay in her shooting. She used to take around 35-38 seconds. We brought that down to 12-14 seconds. By the time her rival was raising her pistol, Kanak would have shot by then. That was important as she is bound to feel less pressure. When there is delay, there's bound to some pressure. Training was done in such a way that she would shoot 10 shots in three minutes or three and a half minutes, so that she can fast-paced."
That fast-paced shooting was visible during the final. She was also employing scatt on the day, something that would continue to help her evolve.
According to her coach, Kanak's diligence and her ability to adapt is something that has propelled her so far. "She doesn't overthink. She is highly adaptable and she is highly disciplined. She is totally dedicated to the craft. She just says that wants to be part of the 2028 Olympics."
This (gold) could be just the beginning for Kanak.
