New Delhi: Over the last one month, Indian shooter Ankur Mittal has been living a dream. First he shot a silver at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in New Delhi, and on Thursday he went one better to clinch the gold medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in the double trap event at Acapulco in Mexico.
Double trap is the event that gave India its first shooting medal at Olympics when country’s ace shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won a silver medal at the Athens Games in 2004.
But the discipline, which brought laurels to the country and created a revolution in the shooting arena, will not be seen in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 list.
Ankur Mittal, a young double trap shooting sensation, had never thought he will have to leave his favourite discipline at a time when his career is on an upswing just to keep his Olympic dream alive.
"It is sad that an event like double trap is getting replaced which has brought laurels to the country," double trap shooter Ankur Mittal told News18.com in an exclusive interview just before embarking on his journey to Mexico.
After winning the silver medal at the season opening ISSF World Cup at the Dr. Karni Shooting Range in New Delhi, Ankur was determined to change the colour of his medal and he did so with a world record equalling effort in the final. He pipped his rival James Willet in the final to win back-to-back World Cup medals.
If the recommendations are approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the double trap men's event will be replaced with a trap mixed gender team event, the 50m rifle prone men's event with a 10m air rifle mixed gender team event and the 50m pistol men's event with a 10m air pistol mixed gender team event.
"If they want to talk about gender equality, they should come up with double trap mixed event instead of scrapping the entire discipline."
"All my hard work has gone in vain. This is all I want to say."
"Mixed event in shotgun will be a failure for India. Shooting is an individual sport and an individual medal matters a lot than a pair one," the Delhi shooter said.
Ankur Mittal wants to represent India at the Olympics and for that he is ready to make the big sacrifice and leave his pet event.
"I have to start afresh now and I know it is not going to be easy. I was a kid when I started shooting and opted double trap as my discipline. I have to learn new things and write a new chapter. I am really dissapointed. My family and coaches are not happy too." the double World Cup medallist said.
Ankur hails from a family of shooters — his father Ashok Mittal was a shooting enthusiast and his elder brother Ajay Mittal is a National Championship and Junior Asian Championship title holder. The 24-year-old owes all success to his father and his elder brother.
"My father is my inspiration. He used to shoot but as a hobby and never professionally. My brother learnt the art from him. When you have someone to guide in the family, you do well. My brother had done his part and it was my turn to do it. Thankfully, I succeeded."
"My brother Ajay is a senior shooter. He has National Championship and Junior Asian Championship titles to his name. He has played many World Cups but missed out on a medal. I wanted to do something that he couldn’t. Hope, I have made both (father and brother) of them proud," the shooter signed off.