Shooter Divyansh Singh Panwar was nervous ahead of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup final but with his coach's help, the world number one opened India's account in the medal tally on Saturday.
Divyansh clinched the bronze medal in 10m Air Rifle (men's category) in the mega event here at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting range (DKSSR).
"I am happy with this medal and I will work hard and try to get gold in the future. I was very nervous when the final started, my heartbeat was also very high but the coach helped me during the event and I made my comeback," Divyansh told reporters here.
"Usually final takes place on the same day of the event but this is the first time when final happened next day. But for me everything was fine as I slept well and there was no pressure at all," he added.
The ISSF World Cup was pushed back by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and Divyansh revealed that he almost lost his skills during the lockdown owing to loss of practice.
"During lockdown my motivation, confidence was very low because there was no certainty of what the future holds and I will say everything was blank. Almost forgot shooting because shooting is a mental game and if you do not practice or if you do not participate in tournaments, you will lose," said Divyansh.
"But now slowly things are getting better and this medal is good for my confidence and I will try to do well in next competition. Right now I am very happy that this World Cup is happening as it was very important," he added.
Divyansh shot 228.1 which got him the third position while Arjun Babuta finished at the fifth position, narrowly missing out on a medal.
Lucas Kozeniesky of the USA won the gold medal while Hungarian shooter Istvan Peni took home silver in the mega event.
( With inputs from ANI )
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