Exclusive: No competition with Manu Bhaker, need more such talents: CWG gold medallist Heena Sidhu

New Delhi, May 9: When an athlete loses a crucial final on a big stage like Commonwealth Games to an opponent some 10-12 years younger, his/her confidence takes a severe beating. Critics, fans and team-mates might start writing them off and jump to the conclusion that the athlete's days are all but numbered.

However, there are only a handful of athletes who keep such setbacks aside and script a sensational comeback to silence their critics. People give examples of such athletes who make a turnaround within a couple of days to finish at the top to prove that they are far from over.

Something similar happened with former world no. 1 and champion shooter Heena Sidhu during the 2018 CWG at Gold Coast. Sidhu, who clinched a gold medal during 2010 CWG at New Delhi in 10M air pistol pairs but was an individual gold had eluded her, was billed as the top contender for gold in 10M air pistol event.

Given her vast experience and recent impressive performance in the international events, especially after she bagged a gold at last year's Commonwealth Championships in Brisbane, she was therefore considered as a favourite.

However, luck evaded the champion shooter in 10M gold medal event as she couldn't put her best foot forward in the final and had to settle for a silver while sixteen something Manu Bhaker bagged the Gold.

Manu, the young Indian sensation from Rohtak created history by becoming the youngest-ever shooter to bag the yellow metal. But there was a slight disappointment for Sidhu, whom the shiny medal at CWG had evaded again. She was happy for Manu for the achievement of the youngster did the country proud. The fact that gold and silver finally went to India was a moment of pride for Sidhu.

However, her dream of clinching a gold at CWG was still a dream. But in a couple of day's time, the former world no. 1 proved what metal she's made up of and went on winning a Gold in 25m air pistol event, which she attempted for the first time.

The 28-year-old shooter not only fulfilled her long-awaited dream of adding the CWG gold to her cabinet but also proved the fact that you never lose till you think you have.

Sidhu was the first Indian pistol shooter to win a gold medal in an ISSF World Cup finals in 2014 after finishing at the top of the table in 10M air pistol event. Sidhu, the World record holder in the 10M air pistol event in 2014 with a final score of 203.8, has had an illustrious journey so far.

myKhel.com interviewed the champion shooter before she left for Munich to prepare for the ISSF World Championships.

Here are the excerpts from the interaction:

Finally, you have won the much eluded Commonwealth Games Gold medal. How was that feeling because you settled for a silver last time?

It feels great, my first CWG medal came in 2006, but that was in a team event with Anuraj. This year, I finally won my first gold medal at CWG in the individual event that too in 25M pistol, so it feels really nice. This was my first event in 25M and I finished at the top of the podium.

However, I would say that am still learning in the 25M event, preparation was good. I thought winning a gold in 25M wouldn't be easy, but was totally convinced about winning a gold in 10M. Training for this event was good and when you get a gold medal it definitely boosts your morale and gives you the confidence of doing well.

You had to settle for a silver the 10M event as 16-year-old Manu Bhaker, who is emerging as an exciting young talent, got the better of you. What do you have to say about that?

Actually, we were convinced about winning a gold and silver in the 10M event and that happened. Actually, I myself committed so many mistakes in the initial stages of the final event. I didn't fare well in the first 4-5 shots in the beginning and paid the price for it (with a smile on her face). But the way I picked up as I was on the verge of elimination and made a comeback, I was satisfied with the effort. When you make a comeback from behind, it proves that we were training in the right direction. Ronak (Pandita, Heena's coach and husband) had prepared me for such eventualities, he had made me do pressure training well in advance.

How did you prepare for dealing with pressure situations?

We had simulated several pressure situations during training. That helped me do well at CWG.

Sometimes athletes commit some mistakes, but if you've prepared yourself how to deal with these pressure situations and manage to win the medal, that makes you a champion. Experiences like these would me help do well on bigger stages like Olympics if I ever found myself behind there. If I had done it in the past, so could I do again and make amends during high-pressure situations to a comeback. So, I'm pretty happy with my both the medals -- 10M silver as well as 25M gold at Gold Coast.

Are we going to see you participate more in 25M events in future?

Yes of course (says with a confident and convincing smile on her face). It's also going to be my main event from now on. When I started training in this event, it was for the sake of learning and testing my potential, but now both 10M and 25M are equally important for me. It gives me a chance to win two medals for India, so why not.

What is your next target?

We are leaving for the World Cup in Munich (Germany), which'll be the last World Cup of this season. Then we've the Asian Games and World Championships lined up later in this year. We've quotas in the ISSF World Championships so, that's going to be a major competition for us as well.

What was the contribution of Ronak (husband and coach) in helping you make a comeback in the 25M event at CWG after you had to settle for a silver in your familiar 10m event? How did help you keep motivated?

He had a major contribution. For any athlete, a coach's contribution has been maximum for their success because they know our strengths, our weaknesses, and which are the areas we need improvement. So, Ronak has always done that for me.

For, CWG we had made elaborate training for the finals because as you know it's slightly easy for Indian shooters to make it to the finals there. But we had prepared well for the finals so that we do not get off track when it mattered the most, and do not fail to convert that initial success into a medal. I think it was training programme designed by Ronak helped me succeed there.

What do you do to improve your mental fitness?

Every athlete has a different approach to keep herself/himself mentally prepared and bring out the best out of themselves. Some try to relax, some try keeping their emotions at the faces like being jolly or being aggressive. So over the years, an athlete tends to understand what mental state works the best for herself/himself, so while training you practice to be in that very same mental state. So you can meditate, mindfulness to overcome tension or whatever emotion you tend to overcome.

India has been doing so well in shooting at these games, but the Commonwealth Games Federation has decided to make shooting an optional sport, from the schedule of 2022 CWG. How do you take it as?

It's really very unjust. The CWG games were held in England in the past as well and shooting was a part back then. They're coming up with an excuse that they don't have a range and putting up an infrastructure for shooting won't be fruitful to them as shooting isn't a popular sport in their country.

I think it isn't right because they already have a range in Bisley which is only 70 km away from the athletes' accommodation. So, if the host country wishes it can do so. Also, this is totally against the sentiments of the Games because by hosting a multi-discipline sport/games you aim to promote all kinds of sports and provide them with a platform. If you remove a sport from the schedule which is a dominant sport for a country and whose athletes have been doing so well in that discipline then it's an injustice to that country. Anyone would feel it's a bias and aimed at hampering our ranking.

According to me, all the sports federations in India should come together and threaten a boycott because if as an Indian we are not being allowed to showcase our talent, then it is not right.

What was the reason behind India's dismal show at Rio Olympics and what happened in its aftermath?

See, shooting is an individual sport so every shooter had his/her own reason for not doing well in Rio. Since it's not a team sport we can't pinpoint for a particular reason. But yes, in its aftermath we could see that the federation realised that there was something missing and now there is an aggression everywhere. That's why you could see such good results ever since and the shooting fraternity is making every possible effort to redeem itself at the next Olympics. It is because of the failure in 2016, there is a positive aggression everywhere and I'm very hopeful that 2020 (Tokyo Olympics) is going to be much better.

What are your thoughts about Manu Bhaker? Do you see her as a rival?

No, there is no competition. Since it is an individual sport you'll have to work on your strengths and weaknesses. One thing I can say is that we need three shooters for any international event, so as of now there only two of us, I and Manu. We're one short and hope that we get another shooter soon so that we've a strong team in major competitions. But at the same time, if Manu is being put on the senior team then what'll happen to the junior team? So we need more talented shooters like Manu to form a strong team.

How does team event help a shooter to improve?

Honestly speaking, team event is hardly of any use to the shooters because we don't get too many Olympic quotas and as far as I know in World Championships there is just one quota for team events.

I don't indulge in too much of nitty-gritty of events for that's being taken care of by Ronak. There're no specific strategies required to do well in team events. It all boils down to your own skills and preparation for your individual performance is being counted in the team events as well. In other sports like tennis and badminton, there are different teams for that and players have to make different strategies as well, but it isn't the case with shooting.

Also, you get very tired due to team events because you've to first participate in team events and then you'll have to contest into individual events. So you're constantly competing on the field and it gets very tiring at the same time.