I know what I’ve got to do: Jitu

Jitu Rai doesn’t like to talk much about his sport. He knows he’s the country’s biggest medal hope in shooting, but he’s untouched by arrogance. The soft-spoken, affable Army shooter diligently listens to every query directed at him, and answers in soft and limited number of words. Rai doesn’t make tall claims. “What’s the point of saying I’ll do this, I’ll do that when I know what exactly I have to do at the range,” he says nonchalantly.

“I don’t want to lose focus of my goal, which is to win gold in both my events. By talking about it over and over again, you tend to lose your concentration. It ultimately results in building unnecessary pressure on you. That’s why I am completely cut off from the rest of the world,” he said.

Rai’s rise to the top wasn’t short of a fairytale — after joining the Gurkha Regiment in 2006, he made it to the Army’s shooting team in 2010-11, but fared poorly in domestic competitions and was sent back to his unit in Lucknow from the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. That was a major setback, but he worked hard and returned as an improved shooter, earning his place back in the AMU. Then came 2014, a watershed year — he stunned everyone by winning seven international medals.

A palm and a shoulder injury threatened to derail his progress for a major part of 2015, but he roared back into form with a gold and a silver from two World Cups this year.

“These medals have come at a right time. This is the peak time and they have done a world of good to my confidence. I hadn’t won a medal for quite long because of injury setbacks. I wasn’t able to figure out what’s wrong with my game. But I am back again,” said Rai, who was the first Indian shooter to qualify for Rio in 2014. Does the pressure of the expectations bother him? Rai said, “It brings out the best in me. Whoever handles pressure better will survive. I have been working on my mental strength a lot. I am confident of handling the pressure at Rio.”

— Sabi Hussian