Aishwary Tomar's Success: Seeing Victory Before It Happens with Visualization

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Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar maintained his cool as he competed for the gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle final at the 37th National Games. With two strokes remaining, the 23-year-old was.3 points behind Sandeep Singh of Services and needed a miracle to win the gold medal.

The Madhya Pradesh shooter reacted with rounds of 10.6 and 10.4 to overtake the leader and win his second gold medal of the National Games, having previously won the 50m Rifle 3-position event.

"I am happy to win the gold medal considering that I haven't practised the 10m air rifle much in the past month (he was competing in the 50m rifle 3Ps event at the Asian Games)." After defeating a formidable field that included 2022 World Champion Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, he said, "This adds to my gold in the 50m rifle 3Ps event. I'm really happy to have both gold medals and improve on my silver and bronze (in 10m air rifle and 50m 3Ps respectively) medals from the last National Games."

There was not much room for mistake for any shooter in the final, since five of the eight competitors entered with qualification scores more than 630. Throughout the whole 24-shot final, Tomar maintained his lead with Sandeep Singh, and to his credit, he just improved his performance.

The 23-year-old said, "I think I've reached a certain maturity and level of consistency in my game, so I never think too much about the score between rounds and have the confidence that I will be in the top spots towards the end when I'm in a state of flow," when asked how he handles his nerves in such high-pressure situations.

"I truly picture myself succeeding. For example, I imagine myself entering the arena, standing in the middle of the podium, and taking home a medal while the national song plays in the background. I've worked for years to train my mind and develop this mentality, but this approach truly helps me stay calm and succeed," he continued.

Each athlete has a unique coping mechanism that they have developed to handle the demands of competitive sports. Tomar first learned how to visualise his accomplishment when he was a young child and had dreams of representing India in the Olympics. It's interesting to note that tennis player Novak Djokovic frequently attributes his own success to using the same strategy.

Tomar's next task is to reserve his spot at the Olympics in Paris. In the 50m Rifle 3-position, Akhil Sheoran and Swapnil Kusale have already secured India's two available quotas, while in the 10m Air Rifle category, Rudrankksh Patil and Arjun Babuta have achieved the same.

Tomar, however, is optimistic that he can maintain a strong run of form and consistently stay at the top of the rankings to guarantee his spot in the main event of the following summer because the quotas are allocated to the nation and the National Rifle Association of India has a selection process to choose the best shooters ahead of the Games.

He emphasised the role his state had in his accomplishment, saying, "This event (National Games) is a big deal for all shooters as there are a lot of ranking points at stake here for your national rankings."

"I'm always thrilled to win for my state of Madhya Pradesh since all I've accomplished in this sport since 2015 has been made possible by the support I've received from the Madhya Pradesh government.

"Many states give their athletes incentives when they place first in major competitions, but the government of Madhya Pradesh invests a lot of money in training its athletes, especially its shooters, so they can place first in major competitions and win medals," he continued.