Asian Games: How shooter Himanshu Dhillon tamed nerves, shot silver

New Delhi: Every time Himanshu Dhillon’s father visits him at Delhi’s Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, he carries a bottle of homemade ghee for national high-performance rifle coach Manoj Kumar. “It’s an expression of love. They are a large-hearted family with limited means, and they have literally handed over their son to me,” Manoj told HT from Aichi.

Considering that the Dhillon family hails from Alewa village in Haryana’s Jind, gifting dairy products is hardly a surprise. As is the fact that a 14-year-old Himanshu took up wrestling for a couple of weeks after being inspired by his wrestler uncle Hardeep Singh Dhillon, who represented India at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 98kg Greco-Roman category.

“His wrestling stint was quite short. Every kid in Haryana visits an akhada at some point in their lives, so this is not a surprise,” Manoj said. But once Himanshu found his way into the system, the seasoned coach knew he had a special talent to work with. A product of NRAI’s junior programme, Himanshu built his shooting base under Manoj’s tutelage.

“What always struck me was his unflappable demeanour. Very rarely would you see him under pressure,” Manoj said. On Sunday, sensing that Himanshu was feeling the jitters ahead of his first major outing in the men’s 10m air rifle event, Manoj asked him to “be a good actor.”

“I told him to forget that he’s a shooter. Instead, I told him to put a game face on, irrespective of the emotional turmoil he would be going through. Today, when I saw him enter the hall, I knew he was being a perfect actor.”

It helped that he happened to shoot alright.

Still a junior, the 20-year-old made his Asian Games debut with an individual silver (252.4), behind Chinese favourite Sheng Lihao (254.2). Himanshu started slow but gradually gathered momentum to get inside the medal bracket. Once in, he never fell off. Compatriot Rudrankksh Patil slipped from first to second to eventually third, but Himanshu kept his cool to finish second.

Himanshu came through the ranks in the junior circuit last year, bagging the individual title in 10m air rifle at the ISSF Junior World Cup in New Delhi, and also the team gold. At the Suhl World Cup, he took the mixed team bronze. Early this year, he clinched the men’s junior title at the Asian Championships in Delhi. But it was in the selection trials for the Asian Games that he shot some big scores and made it to the team ahead of a big name in Arjun Babuta. On Tuesday, he showed composure and resolve in a quality field.

“You could see it on his face. He is a confident young man who is a technically superb shooter,” said former rifle shooter Joydeep Karmakar, now a coach. “The fact that you are a newbie can go for or against you. Today, it went for him as he shot without showing any nerves.”

Himanshu’s shooting got better as the match entered the business end. His last four shots, where he upstaged compatriot Rudrankksh Patil, were 10.6, 10.4, 10.8, and 10.6.

“Himanshu shot brilliantly. I frankly didn’t know what to expect of him, and to see him on the podium on his senior debut was so good. I looked at him and wondered how I was shooting at 20,” Patil said.

Dhillon, Patil and Parth Mane Panwar took the team silver medal.