Rudrankksh —Indian shooting’s ‘chosen one’

Three years ago, Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil was being spoken of, in hushed but awed tone, as a possible successor to Abhinav Bindra.

The then 19-year-old’s performances and consistency had evoked admiration and hope in the shooting fraternity. But it all came crashing when he stumbled, finishing fourth in 10m air rifle at the 2023 Asian Games and failing to make the cut for the Paris Olympics — a quota he had held on to for two years after becoming the first Indian shooter to earn one. It wasn’t his skill that let him down; it was the mind. Still only 22, Rudrankksh is now a lot more in control — of his mind, emotions, thoughts. That control saw him go one better on his disappointing Hangzhou outing, winning a bronze medal in 10m air rifle in Aichi-Nagoya.

Most importantly, the teenaged nervous energy has been replaced by a quietly confident one, a belief that he is good enough to succeed in not one but two events. He is representing India in both 10m air rifle and 50m rifle 3-Positions, the latter an addition after the Paris heartbreak in 2024.

Getting inspired

“As I see it, there are only a couple of athletes in the world who are doing well in two events. There are a lot of myths around balancing the two. When I started, there was a belief that if you do a second event, it will destroy your 10m form. There is also a thought that it’s difficult to manage both.

“But I was told by my nutritionist and psychologist that as long as you have two working legs and two working hands, you can do multiple events. That inspired me. And I saw Michael Phelps, who participated in multiple events and won multiple medals in all of them. So why not me? I have age on my side. I have a lot of years to make mistakes and learn through them,” the bespectacled youngster said in an exclusive interaction with The Hindu during the preparatory camp in Bhopal.

“This is the first Asian Games where I am participating in two events. It’s my fourth international competition doing so. Every time, I have improved a little bit. I have good coaches, good support staff. There is a lot of motivation. The hunger and greed is intact: if anything, it’s grown,” he added.

Content with third place

He has definitely learned. The bronze, which he clinched in 10m air rifle after leading for almost 70% of the competition here on Monday, might have been a disappointment at another time but for someone who has been in this position before, a medal was more than welcome.

“I am very happy with bronze because a lot of things could have gone wrong but all of it ended well. I would like to see the positives rather than the negatives,” he said.

The aftermath of missing out on an Olympic outing was big, but for those around him more than himself. He hadn’t done badly: he finished third behind Arjun Babuta and Sandeep Singh in the trials.

“The sad part was seeing my parents and support staff. I was fine, honestly. My initial thought was: ‘I competed in 13 events and won 11. It’s just this one match that I lost, not a big deal’. But when I realised everyone was looking forward to that one match and were sad after watching me work hard, I was affected.

“I was actually sad because all the hard work which I had put in did not yield the result. But then, I started seeing the facts. It’s not that I was not selected because my score was bad: it was because one person shot a really high score. And I could not compete with that. Secondly, I always evaluate what I could have done better after a competition… the mistakes I made. But after that, I had nothing. I had given my best, my everything. I was able to figure things out and move forward.

“I started in a new event. My way of taking a break was getting back to shooting but it was on my terms. I used to go to the range but with no set schedule. I trained as I liked, whenever or however I liked… sometimes for hours, sometimes maybe for just 15 to 20 minutes. It was just a part of my life in which I had to be patient, I had to be persistent. I gradually built up my love for the sport again and started enjoying it,” Rudrankksh explained the dark phase.

Finishing the job

There is also a determination to see his dreams, hard work and journey through to the end. It’s something that drives him, considering the fear of leaving things midway has happened far too often for comfort.

“When I started my sporting journey, I was not exactly in a happy space in life. My marks (academics) were just fine, I was not good in other sports, I was new to the city and did not have many friends, I was lagging in everything. My parents used to get me some mechanical or Lego sets and I never completed any.

“It was a recurring complaint from my teachers, that I was not completing anything. It became an obsession for me, it became a fixation that I want to do something in my life. I want to complete something. I started seeing athletes all over… Phelps. I had watched Bindra sir’s 2016 Olympics in Rio. All those sparked something in me. Even now, whenever things are not working out, I look around me for inspiration.

“A lot of athletes show up every day. Manu Bhaker, who is always on time, everywhere, always in the gym no matter what. Maybe, someone some day is as inspired by me as I am by others. That thought keeps me alive, gives me hope.”

He has learnt to stop worrying about things not in his control. Call it fate or luck, but Rudrankksh prefers calling himself the ‘chosen one’ for all the unexpected setbacks he has faced, many of them not of his making. “I am kind of used to it by now. Even today (Monday), after my match was done, I picked up my rifle and the strap of the case broke. At the Peru World Cup, my gun auto-fired in the final and I was eliminated. Only my visa gets rejected,” he shrugged.

Showing maturity

The nervous, high-strung energy has settled into a quieter rhythm. It had helped him perform back then but had taken a toll on his health, both physical and mental. He suffered an auto-immune condition triggered by stress, messed up his sleep cycle and was desperate to continue regardless of everything — a lot like being on a high without drugs.

“When I lost, I would be down in the dumps. When I won, I used to feel like wanting to continue the streak no matter what — whether my sleep was affected, my hands were shaking, I was tired and ready to drop dead. Nothing mattered, only winning did. It has changed now but I am still learning how my body works. I learnt that fatigue is something which builds up during the Olympic time. I know I need to be more strategic and dissociated from the results.”

Himanshu Dhillon and Rudrankksh Patil exult after winning the silver and bronze medals.
| Photo Credit:
R.V MOORTHY

He knows he will make mistakes. He also knows that he will keep learning from them. Like Monday, when he admitted that slipping from No. 1 to No. 3 was largely his own doing — a poor 9.7 shot dashed his golden hopes.

“This gives me a kick, reminding me that I need to be calm till the last moment. I was too excited for the shot and I released before calming down. I think all the accumulated things over the last six months… perhaps it was just the way the body reacted once a medal was confirmed. The last time I spoke to you, I said I was looking to improve my rank, and that’s exactly what happened. Perhaps I need to watch what comes out of my mouth the next time,” he quipped.

External support

The support from the system has played a big role in his growth in 50m 3P. “The TOPS CEO then (Cmdr. P.K. Garg) was very supportive. He sanctioned my trip to Serbia for training with Olympic medallist Milenko Sebic. And he was impressed. The National coaches guided me on the right equipment, ammunition suppliers and provided the shots. Everything came together and in 2025, I participated in my first trials. I was in top-10, then top-6, now top-3. I hope to continue this.”

He is also aware that there is a long way to go. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, who beat him in the shoot-off for the 10m bronze medal in Hangzhou, is the top guy in 50m 3P. While Rudrankksh insists that there is no rivalry between the two, he is clear on the strengths of both.

“I don’t and can’t compare myself with him in 3P because he is the best in the country for the past seven to eight years. This year, I was able to play with him in three international tournaments: my aim every time was to score around 587 points while he shot above 590 in all. I don’t compare myself with him in 10m because I feel I am better. I have proved myself in it more than him and I have been in the 10m team for as long as he’s been in 3P. But yes, there are times when he shoots 10m better than everyone. In fact, he is also one of my inspirations to try two events — if he can do it, why can’t I?”

The Asian Games will help him complete the first set of targets he has set for himself, a list that, by his own admission, has grown in reverse. From being crowned the World champion in 10m air rifle in his maiden senior international outing in 2022 to winning his first National title earlier this year, Rudrankksh’s journey has been interesting, to say the least.

“I won the World championship, then the World Cup Final, World Cups, got the World No. 1 title, the World Record. This year, I won the Asian championship for the first time after finishing fourth repeatedly. The only regret is that despite all this, I have not even been considered for an Arjuna Award so far. I even won my first National-level tournament this year. But there is the Olympics to complete the set, maybe they will recognise after that,” he signed off.