Watching shooters practice can be boring and confusing. The subtle tilt of the neck, the perfectly aligned arms downwards, the ultra-slow motion of the feet spread apart for balance—these nuances can be difficult to understand for non-experts. Divyansh Singh Panwar would hang out with other shooters, but when it came time to shoot, the meditation process would begin immediately.
A few days before the Indian team departs for the World Cup in Grenada, Divyansh looked calm and flawless at the Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi. He positioned himself ten feet away from the firing station and fired dry–aligning his arm with the target without holding the weapon. He put on his puffy costume, tied on his jacket, fixed his eyepieces and tightened his shoelaces. All the shenanigans are worth it when you see the series of results achieved on 10m air rifle shooters: 10.6, 10.7, 10.8. In a way, this gradual progression toward perfection shows that Divyansh’s redemption story is still evolving.
Three years ago, Divyansh entered the Tokyo Olympics as a long-haired 18-year-old ranked No. 1 in the world, a world record holder and a top medal contender. He finished 32nd at Alkasa Shooting Range, which shocked him so much that he had to travel to Rishikesh for a two-week Vipassana course.
Divyansh won his first senior World Cup gold with a world-record time at the World Cup in Cairo last month. During this time, the now 21-year-old has worked on all aspects of his game. The pronounced arch of his back became much straighter in his posture, and he fired a new rifle, trying to get the timing right. This is just the technical part.
National team coach Souma Shirul said maintaining confidence in her abilities is the biggest challenge after the Tokyo Olympics without a victory.
“We can’t teach shooters how to shoot at this stage. It’s all about small, often invisible changes that can make a huge difference,” she said. For Divyansh, the changes were dramatic. His hunched posture was very effective in his early years, but the Indian coaching staff felt it affected his shooting in close games.
“On a home level, the bow position works really well for him, but in stressful situations, when your body starts to tense up, it puts extra pressure on the lower back, which starts to affect concentration,” she says. Soon after Shirur took charge of the senior rifles team in 2022, he began to adjust his position.
“Sometimes, it’s difficult to convince a shooter that everything that worked for him until then needs to change. Divyansh’s all-clear ear was helpful.” The work started with a change of 1 mm per month. Muscle memory honed over years of practice takes time to fade away. As far as Divyansh is concerned, it’s an ongoing process.
Next stop is his weapons. A year ago, the Indian Rifles Corps trialled Austrian-made Steyr rifles. All but Divyansh had their previous rifles restored. “A lot of it comes down to feel. He feels like the weight distribution and the trigger feel are better. Remember, he’s not doing that well at that stage, so it takes trust and courage to stick with the new weapon.”
Later, Divyansh led a star-studded team to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games and led the Indian team to win the men’s team gold medal. He still failed to win an individual medal. After a poor start, he finished eighth in the qualifying round but was not allowed to finish as compatriots Rudlankesh Patil and Aishwari Pratap Singh Tomar preceded him into the final. Not absent. A maximum of two shooters from one country can participate in the finals.
“It’s disappointing, but I think I need to get better. All I can say is that I will get stronger.” In Hangzhou, when he saw Chinese player Sheng Lihao win the championship with a then world record score of 253.3 points, Divyansh told HT dejectedly when he won the gold medal. .
“It’s easy to compare his performance before and after the Tokyo Olympics, but he was a teenager then and is now an adult. Physical growth should also be taken into account,” Shirul said. Divyansh now stands taller and wider, and in a sport where millimeters are the order of the day, every little change matters. “The results can be very different before the age of 21 and after the age of 21 because your body changes so much. Also, there are a lot of emotional changes that can affect your breathing patterns.”
The Indian coach worked on his timing – the time it takes for a shooter to complete a shot and exhale and shoot again. The coaches felt Divyansh took too long, a gap that raised doubts in a tense final. “Timing is very relative and personal and not all shooters have the confidence to try and change it. We also started working on his body language, which is why you see him walking around with confidence, regardless of the outcome.”
The filming team now heads to Grenada, Spain, where Diviash’s new approach will be put to the test again. After a successful return to form in the Olympic year, a fascinating battle is about to begin between Divyansh, Patil, Babuta and Tomar for two tickets to Paris.