As a child, Rubina Francis dreamed of emulating her idol, Olympic medallist shooter Gagan Narang but winning a medal at the biggest stage was an audacious target considering that even standing steady on her feet was a huge challenge at that time. The 25-year-old from Jabalpur was born with talipes — commonly known as club foot — and that prevented her from staying steady while shooting at the target. To add to her woes, she wasn’t able to shoot perfectly while sitting. “We tried making her sit and shoot but that would not be perfect,” her coach JP Nautiyal told PTI in an exclusive chat.
Perplexed by the problem at hand, it seemed Rubina has to give up her cherished dream of becoming a shooter.
But her coaches came up with a solution.
“We made her stand and got special shoes for her which facilitated balance,” Nautiyal added.
Being able to stand still was just the first step, Rubina and her coaches also worked tirelessly on her posture.
On Saturday all the hard work paid dividends as she became the country’s first female pistol shooter to win a Paralympic medal — a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol (SH1) event.
They say behind every successful athlete, there is a strong support system that helps push the athlete toward success and in Rubina’s case that support was provided by is her parents.
Her father, who used to own a garage and mother, who works as nurse supported her dreams despite their financial struggles.
In 2015, Rubina found herself at the MP Shooting Academy, where under the mentorship of Nautiyal and guidance under renowned coach Jaspal Rana’s younger brother Subhash she flourished.
“She had a score of 386 in the nationals in 2016 and we took her to Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates for the World Cup in February 2017. She was a junior back then, she not only reached the final but also made a junior world record,” Nautiyal said.
From there Rubina hasn’t looked back, winning the silver medal at the Para World Championships at Lima (Peru) in addition to the bronze in the Para Asian Games in China.
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