He is too young to be a coach, but too good, not to be one! The 28-year-old Rakesh Manpat, who beat Olympic champions Abhinav Bindra and Alin George Moldoveanu to the gold, with a borrowed weapon, in the Intershoot at the Hague in 2016, is mentoring the women’s world No.1 air rifle shooter Apurvi Chandela, among others.
Rakesh also trains Meghana Sajjanar at his base in Bengaluru, where he is all set to open a second training centre, better equipped.
It has been a golden season for Olympian Apurvi this year, as she won two gold medals with world record in Delhi and Munich, apart from the mixed team silver.
“Apurvi has been mentally very strong. She is able to keep many things off the lane in control and focus on herself more than anyone else in the world.
“It makes her a world beater. She has been shooting well in the past as well’’, said Rakesh.
After the spell of World Cups, Apurvi has been training in Bengaluru. She makes it a point to visit the centre once every two to three months.
“We are currently training in Bengaluru at our new academy. We are able to train in a very controlled environment.
“Depending on the need, we train overseas as well. Earlier this year we trained in the Netherlands’’, said Rakesh.
It has been a long association with Apurvi, who has been training with Rakesh from 2013. There was a break around the Olympics in Rio in 2016, but Apurvi resumed the stint in 2017.
Apart from Apurvi, Rakesh has been working with Meghana Sajjanar for the last three years.
“Meghana has shaped up well in the last three years. The second year was sensational. We changed the rifle and it was a slight burn out owing to the number of competitions she has played. Now she is able to recover well. This year she had two scores around the 630 mark. She is able to gain the confidence back.
“Working with the shooters on the fundamentals is where I try to match up their current determination to realise potential’’, observed Rakesh.
There is demand for training from more shooters, and Rakesh feels that the two centres with a total of 12 electronic targets, and six manual targets for beginners, would help him mentor more shooters to world class standards.
Good team
In the Elite Shooting Academy, he has a good team, including sports psychologist G.U. Sathwik. “Together we enjoy our work, which is about 15 to 18 hours a day of late’’, said Rakesh.
He continues to shoot whenever he gets the time, and Rakesh feels that he has “not lost any touch’’.
Rakesh Manpat is on a “mission’’, and is “extremely happy’’ to guide and ensure quality training for his athletes.