Am chasing excellence, not medals: Bhanwala

NEW DELHI: In 2023, Anish Bhanwala experienced his lowest phase when he fared poorly at the shooting World Championships and Asian Games.

- Avishek Roy

As someone who has always been in top form in domestic competitions, consistently scoring at an aggregate of 585, it was a jolt to see his scores drop down to 575 and 560 respectively in the qualifiers of these two major events.

To get back on track required some drastic action and Anish was prepared to do whatever it took to change his fortunes. It started off with onboarding former shooter Harpreet Singh as his full-time coach. That led to better planning, focus on recovery and a stronger mindset —all of which has done wonders for him this year.

The 23-year-old has just completed his most successful season, since emerging as a precocious 15-year-old talent in 2017 with a Junior World Championships silver in Suhl. He won a silver at the World Championships in Cairo last month, and silver at the ISSF World Cup Final this month but the season's first big prize was a silver at the Asian Championships in August.