Field Vision

The Paris Olympics 2024 was a big success story for Indian Shooting contingent. India grabbed three out six medals in the Olympics thanks to splendid performance of our shooters. Manu Bhaker became the first athlete to win double medals for India in a single Olympics and grabbing the headlines, and rightly so.

However, amidst the gritty performance of Bhaker, there was another pistol shooter who was making her mark in her debut Olympics aged just 20. She was not just another rookie competing at the Olympics. She holds the world record for most points in the qualification event with 595 points bettering the long standing record of 594 points held by Diana Iorgova since 1994.

Her achievements at such a young age include securing multiple prestigious victories in shooting competitions. She clinched a gold medal in the women’s 25m pistol team event at both the 2023 Asian Games and the 2023 World Championships.

In addition, she has won four gold, two silver, and two bronze medals in the ISSF World Cup, showcasing her consistency and excellence. At the 2021 World Junior Championships, she earned four gold medals, further cementing her reputation as a top-tier shooter. She also won a bronze medal at the 2024 Asian Shooting Championships.

She is none other than Rhythm Sangwan. She is not just a ferocious shooter but also has remarkable clarity of thoughts at such a young age. Fieldvision had the the privilege to speak with the youngster for an exclusive interview and she spoke on various matters relating to the sport. Here is the excerpt from the interview

Fieldvision: So, how did shooting happen? How did you end up at the range with the gun in your hands at the very first instance? 

Rhythm Sangwan: Well, my parents always wanted me to pursue some sports, any sports for that matter. And especially my mom, she was like, I want my children to get into sports. And so one day out of the blue, we just went to the Dr. Kani Singh shooting range that is in New Delhi. And I just, I went there and I just loved the environment there, you know the shot of just just hearing the sound of guns and ammunition just all very excited me and I was like yeah I want to do it let’s do it so that’s how I started.

Fieldvision: What has been the role of your parents supporting you as a young athlete because you’re just 20 right? So you’re still very young and you’ve been shooting for a while now So what has been the role of your parents in supporting you and giving you all the support financially and also mentally? 

Rhythm Sangwan: My father is a DSP in Haryana Police and my mother is a housewife. So I think my father has see,…I  I think I don’t know if that may have been a reason but I have seen you know pistols and guns in my house so I was not very scared of them.

So and my mom is a housewife she takes care of all of us and the support has been I mean I have received unwavering support from them from the first day. I think because they always supported me they were always like it doesn’t matter what you perform it doesn’t matter we don’t we don’t want your performance we just want you to enjoy the game. It’s a game you’re playing.

We don’t want anything out of it we just want that you enjoy your life and enjoy something that you’re pursuing. So they never asked me why a match went wrong or why I didn’t win a medal. They were always, they always had my back and always supported me.

And yeah, they were always motivating me. Whenever, even when I didn’t have some good matches or something, they were the ones that, you know, motivated me to keep going and do better, do better. 

Fieldvision: At what point did you decide to pursue shooting professionally?

Rhythm Sangwan: Actually, I think that moment never came when I sat and thought about that, yeah, I want to do it professionally I think from the first day that I started going to the range I think I went there and I tried my best.

I just kept going forward I just whatever came my way I think I put my best foot forward and yeah I think I was enjoying it so much that I was like yeah of course I’ll do it why what else would I do I mean so along with my studies of course, it was not like I leave my studies or academics behind. And I was like, yeah, I want to do it. I’m all in.

Fieldvision: So when we talk about academics, Indian parents often expects their child to perform academically or else they will be disappointed in most households. So you as a young athlete, just 20 years of age, shooting throughout school years. So how did you manage academics and shooting?

Sangwan: I think from the first day only, from the first day that I picked up my gun, my parents, we had this conversation that, Beta, you’re going to do the sports, but we want you to continue your studies hand in hand. It should go hand in hand. It’s not like you can leave one for the other. So we have to do both of them.

But they never wanted me to get at the top of my classes. You have to get first or anything like that. They were just like, we want you to gain the knowledge and I think the personality development, the growth that one individual can, you know, have with the help of education, I think it’s unmatchable.

And the code to crack. I think my school was very supportive, they were very cooperative and they always were like it’s okay we’ll do your, we’ll take care of your extra classes also, we’ll do that, we’ll do this and also my own interest in studies was also a big thing I feel that that that is a game-changer.

When you when you really want to do yeah so I think but I did not get a lot of time to study but like 10 days before an exam like whenever my bows were even even my bows I just studied for 10 days. 

Fieldvision: Let’s talk about your coaches a bit. So tell us who have been your coaches right from day one your personal coach and what has been your experience with the national coaches and how many coaches have you had? Just run me through about your coaching partners over the years? 

Rhythm Sangwan: So I’ve only had one coach from the day one. I have only trained under him and I am still training under him only. And he’s been my backbone since day one. I think he’s the reason I’m here today. His name is Vineet Kumar Kausalya.

And he worked so hard that I even I got motivated to work harder you know for him for the I think he I think he gave his 1000% and that is why I’m here today at every step of the way even when I was down even when I was feeling like no I cannot do it that I mean he was just this one-man army that you know stood by me.

And I think it’s very important to have a good coach that, you know, that understands you, that knows what you need, how you think, everything. I think whenever, even in a match when I’m standing there, he knows what I’m thinking, what is going on in my mind. And our bond is so strong that even if he signals me something, I know immediately that what he’s saying so yeah I think the it’s the I think if one of the main reasons of my success is him being there.

Fieldvision: What about the national coaches?

Rhythm Sangwan: The national coaches are just there in the camps and you know when we go abroad So I always try to, me and my personal coach, we travel together mostly because I, because you know I train under him for the whole year and then the national coaches are only there for like 10 days. So they might not be able to help me when I need it the most.

So I think they are great as well. I mean, but you know when you’re working for so long with someone and then you cannot just work with someone else in the last 10 days or last 5 days of a match. Because they don’t know you, you don’t know them, they don’t know how you think or how you play or whatever. So yeah, but I think they must be good as well, but I don’t have anything against them. But it’s just that I am here because of my personal coach, I would say.

Fieldvision: There’s a perception that shooting requires more of your mental state and concentration than your physical strength. So we just want to understand from a shooter’s perspective how true is that and also how important is diet and nutrition for a shooter and how important is physical strength to a shooter ?

Rhythm Sangwan: There is the mental aspect, there is the physical aspect, there’s the diet and nutrition. I think you have to get all three, all of the aspects together and go forward. Because you just can’t leave one and then you’re like, no, I’m good at this, but I can’t do that.

So yeah, you need the physical fitness. Yeah, you need to be mentally tougher you know to you yeah shooting is a focused game you know you need that concentration to shoot a very precise shot so but I would say that it’s both it’s mental as well and it’s physical as well.

Because you have to stand there for like two hours and then preparation before that and then you have finals and it’s sometimes shooters have many events so I shoot in two events and sometimes even more so I think it gets very challenging if to you know go day sometimes even more so I think it gets very challenging if to you know go day on full day you’re standing on the range and it requires physical fitness as well as mental fitness.

So diet and nutrition is also very important because for someone like me so I am a little anemic I I don’t have that much iron or I would say that so I have to keep you know take take care of my supplements as well because people think that it’s a very easy sport.

You just have to stand and what do you have to do? You just have to aim and shoot. But it’s not like that. It’s a very technical and very demanding sport, I would say. Not as demanding as the others, but there’s weight lifting, there’s boxing. Not as demanding as that, but yeah, it’s still, we need that physical fitness, nutrition, diet, everything. And all of them are equally important, I would say. 

Fieldvision: NRI has been quite supportive in the last few years. There has been a lot of focus on investment from NRI’s perspective as well. So just tell us what has been NRI’s role in shaping that competition, intense competition in the national circuit? 

Rhythm Sangwan: I think our federation is very supportive. It’s supporting all of us and I think shooters are doing so well at the national international stage. I mean not just now I mean years before as well I mean now the limelight has come to shooting but in the initial years as well .

I think shooters whether it’s rifles shotguns pistol I think we’ve been performing really great and I think the Federation support is really required because if the Federation doesn’t support the shooters I think we will still have to do it but we’ll be less you know less stressed out more free mind I would say so yeah I think their support is essential and even more there.

And they’ve been doing great, they’ve been doing lovely. But more is better, I would say. So the more the merrier.

This is the first part of the interview second part will be published later.

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