India’s rapid pistol shooter Anish Bhanwala hopes to earn Olympic quota place in Baku World Championship

India’s leading rapid pistol shooter, Anish Bhanwala, hopes to make a big impression at the Baku World Championship scheduled to be held in Azerbaijan from August 14 to September 1. The global competition assumes significance as it offers Paris Olympic Games quota places.

The Haryana’s international shooter said he is hopeful of a good show in Baku.

“I’m enjoying shooting. I’ve also learned how to handle pressure at major international competitions,” Bhanwala told Sportskeeda from Suhl, his training base in Germany. “Baku is the first big competition of the season for me and I hope to give my best.”

Bhanwala is a member of the national team that will compete in the global competition.

According to Bhanwala, he plans to compete in a local German shooting to prepare for the World Championship.

“The competition in Germany will be kind of final preparation for me in the build-up to the world championship,” the promising shooter added.

After a not so encouraging 2022 season, the talented pistol shooter struggled to regain his form. However, he bounced back to cement his place in the national team. He won bronze at the February 17 to 24 Cairo World Cup.

“It was a big motivating factor,” Bhanwala added.

He also dominated last month’s national selection trials held in New Delhi. He topped the qualifications of the men’s rapid fire pistol event with a score of 584 out of a possible 600.

In the final, he was in his elements, shooting a stunning 35 out of 40, with four perfect scores of five among the eight series of five rapid-fire shots each. Bhavesh Shekhawat of Rajasthan was a distant second with 29 while Punjab’s Anhad Jawanda was third with 22 hits to his name.

As a junior shooter, Bhanwala made rapid progress and won a couple of medals at the international level. But took time to settle down at the senior level.

The 20-year-old made his debut at the senior level in 2019 and shot a national record 588/600 in the ISSF World Cup held in New Delhi.

In 2021, he was in the race to earn a wild card entry for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, but missed the flight by virtue of his global ranking. Here's what Bhanwala said about his ability to handle big pressure games:

“I’ve learned from my past experience. I’m more mature mentally and physically. More importantly I have learned to handle big match pressure,” the young rapid shooter revealed.