Chants for the Chandela bullseye

Hyderabad: When Abhinav Bindra won the gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, it inspired many to  take up shooting as a career. Apurvi Chandela is one of them. Six years after Bindra climbed atop the Olympic podium, the Jaipur girl has started showing signs of being a champion in the making, courtesy a gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“I always wanted to be associated with sports. I watch soccer and cricket a lot, initially, I  wanted to become a sports journalist. I was a basketball player in school but never thought of a career in sports,” she recalls.

“My parents insisted that I pick a sport and when I saw Abhinav Bindra winning the Olympic gold, it inspired me to become a shooter. I took to this sport only because of him,” she says.

The 21-year-old hails from a business family. Her father is a hotelier and her mother owns a boutique in Jaipur, while her elder sister is a chef who runs restaurants in Jaipur and Gurgaon. But Apurvi never faced any pressure about joining the family business. “My parents are very supportive. My mother is my guide. There is a shooting range in Jaipur, and I also have a range at home which my father built for me. I was never interested in business and my parents never forced me to do so as well,” she says.

For Apurvi, home is the best place in the world and she likes to spend time with her pet dogs.

“My comfort zone is my home and my dogs. I love dogs. I have three at home, and I just want to play with them after training hard all day. I am a very quiet person and reserved as well. Otherwise, I like to read and like nature a lot. So I go for walks whenever I get the time,” says the Delhi University student.

She is very strong-minded and “winning and losing” does not affect her much.

“When I am feeling low or lagging behind in competition, I talk to myself and say this is not the end of the world. May be not this time, but definitely better moments than this are in store for me,” she adds, saying, “I do meditation and Yoga every morning and for my physical fitness, I run a lot. These things increase one’s capability,” she adds.

Apurvi loves to travel, although after becoming regular on the international circuit, she gets very little time for family vacations.

“My favourite travel destination is Europe and in Europe, it is Germany. I like shopping a lot. I like traditional clothes a lot, especially the kind we wear in Jaipur, with all the jewellery and heavy lehengas and dupattas called Poshak,” the third year student of Sociology reveals.

She was 19 when she won the senior national championship in 2012, her first year in the senior circuit. In March that year, she won a gold and a bronze medal in the individual events and two more team medals at the 35th Intershoot competition in the Netherlands.

“Winning the CWG gold was a life changing moment for me. It was an amazing feeling and it made me more confident on the range. It was my first major event. I won my first national title in 2012 and after that I never looked back,” she says.

Asked her about marriage, and she smiles, “I have no plans of marriage right now. I am just 21, my sister got married only this year. May be six to seven years down the line. Right now, my aim is to qualify for the Olympics and the Asian Games. The World Championship will be held soon, and I have to perform well there to make it to Rio,” she signed off.