The journey from humble beginnings to reaching the Olympics is a long one to cover. One such long and tiring journey was covered by Jitu Rai.
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The journey from humble beginnings to reaching the Olympics is a long one to cover. One such long and tiring journey was covered by Olympian Jitu Rai. Brought up in the Sitalpati-8 village in eastern Nepal, Jitu grew up cultivating paddy, potatoes and corn in his family farm. Jitu decided to move to India in 2006, following his father’s death. Here he joined the Gurkha regiment and was eventually promoted to the position of Naib-Subedar
While training at the army camp in Lucknow, Jitu got acquainted with shooting and then got accustomed to shooting. Jitu, who was skilled, decided to make a career out of shooting. However, his journey to becoming the shooter he is today was harder than what he had anticipated it to be. He was rejected many times and was also sent back from the shooting camp in Mhow due to poor performances.
However, Jitu was far from giving up. With some good performances in the domestic events, he was back in the fold. One of his best performances truly came out in Munich and Maribor at the ISSF World Cups in 2014. His record-breaking performance made the world realise he was a force to be reckoned with. With one gold and two silver medals, Jitu Rai announced himself to the world.
2014 was an impeccable year for Jitu since he sealed his 2016 Olympics qualification with a silver medal at the 51st World Shooting Championships. Jitu however couldn’t replicate a similar form in 2015. But the army man had always maintained his desire to win a medal at the 2016 Olympics.
“I have a desire, a burning desire within me to do well at the Olympics but it ends there only. I don’t think at all about other things, pressure, expectations and all.” Jitu had said in 2015. For India’s sake, everyone had put their faith in him.
What happened at the Games was contrary to what millions of Indians were expecting out of Jitu. The Olympian failed to make the final of men’s 50-meter pistol, his pet event.
Along with Rai, Prakash Nanjappa, the other Indian participant in the event, couldn’t make it to the Games after he finished 25th with 547 during the qualifications. The 28-year-old finished 12th after being placed fourth at the end of the fifth and penultimate series at the Olympic Shooting Centre. Rai aggregated 554.
Entering the sporting extravaganza as India’s biggest medal hope, the world number three army man from Mhow had two poor series in windy conditions.
“Sapna toot gaya, kya karoon (my dream is shattered),” the Nepalese-born Rai said in an interview.
He was consoled by his teammates and national pistol coach Smirnov Pavel. “I tried my best and was not under pressure but I don’t know what happened in the last series. Maybe I was not lucky enough.”
Rai is a gold medallist at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cup, and a silver winner at the World Championship. He was inside the top eight in the last series. However, the shooter ran out of time. He just had 15 mins to take 10 shots.
Rai was seen taking his shot and then stopping to resist the wind. Just when it was announced that there are only five minutes left, Rai seemed to have hurried his last three shots.
Rai needed to shoot three 10s but only managed 9, 7 and 10 in his last three attempts. He finished his last series with 88. The qualification was with 91 and fired 95 in the second series.
Scores of 90, 94 were followed by another 95, including four 10s, in the fifth series that propelled him to the fourth position at the completion of the series.
However, Rai was not up to the mark in the final series and his hits included two eights, which left him way behind in the pecking order. Not his usual self, a final effort of 10 was not enough for Rai to avoid elimination in his first Olympics.
Three-time gold Olympic gold medalist and defending champion Jin Jong-oh however was unaffected by the wind as he topped the qualification round with 567. He finished his 60 qualifying shots more than five minutes before the warning and never looked in trouble, but Rai said he was done in by the lack of experience.
“Now I get the knowledge of an Olympic event. I can start preparing accordingly. I want to utilise this knowledge ahead. You can’t say in shooting. You may go up and down. It’s a mental game and not a physical game unlike others. I should not lose heart and look ahead. I will practice hard and keep fighting,” Rai said.
