Shooting in his first ISSF World Cup, young Shahzar Rizvi showed nerves of steel to clinch gold with a world record score in the men’s 10m air pistol in Guadalajara, Mexico. Rizvi, a sergeant with the Indian Air Force, aced Rio Olympics gold medallist Christian Reitz of Germany and teammate Jitu Rai by scoring 242.3. He broke Japanese legend Tomoyuki Matsuda’s record of 241.8, created in October last year. In a conversation with ANI, Shahzar Rizvi says that he is hopeful of performing well in future events after clinching the medal at the prestigious event.
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“After picking up gold in Mexico, I am hopeful of performing well in future as well. The Olympic team is a mix of young and experienced players. The best part is experienced player Jitu Rai is also in our team. So, this also raises our confidence level.”
He further said that his main focus is to maintain consistency in his performance in the coming future. “Me and my coach are training well in order to maintain that consistency. We will try to deliver good result in the forthcoming events. We will try to perform well in qualification as well as in final events,” he said.
Rizvi will still consider himself unlucky to miss on a spot in shooting team for Gold Coast Commonwealth games 2018. The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had preferred Jitu Rai over Rizvi for the CWG, considering the former’s experience. Since only two shooters can be sent in one event, the shooting body used their right to select the squad without considering the national ranking. The other shooter to join Rai will be Om Prakash Mitharval.
