When Parth Mane video-called his coach Suma Shirur to show his first senior international medal — which happened to be an Asian Games 10m air rifle team silver — on Monday, his teammates Himanshu Dhillon and Rudrankksh Patil stopped by to convey their greetings to the former national rifle coach.
India Falls Short in Shooting Finals
In the recent shooting competition, the Indian duo scored 634.6 points in the qualification round, placing them second to China’s world record score of 638.9 points. However, their performance in the final was hindered by a slow start. Parth delivered some strong inner-10s, while Elavenil improved from a rocky beginning, but it was not enough for India to overcome Japan and South Korea.
Shirur expressed pride in the athletes, stating, “It was so nice because I’ve seen these kids grow up.” Parth’s father, Rakesh Mane, credited his son’s success to his early dedication and hard work, saying, “His understanding of the sport and what he wanted to do in it was there from when he was very young.”
Particularly the 18-year-old Parth, whose shooting ambitions took him hustling from Solapur to Pune to Navi Mumbai.
And that’s the thing with Parth — he is always open, never rigid, and places trust in the coach,” said the Dronacharya awardee. But he stuck to it,” said Shirur. “He went 8-10 months like that,” said Rakesh. “It was a lot of running around for him.”
“Apart from being talented, it’s important that an athlete is coachable. You know by the way they adapt to suggestions. “When that change was made, Parth had a dip of three months. “After that, we could see his performance go up again.
At Aichi-Nagoya, he reaped a medal at his debut Games and a fourth-place finish in the 10m air rifle mixed team with Elavenil Valarivan on Tuesday.
