“Do not mess it up,” Matej Rampula thought before firing his last five shots.
He did not.
The Czech took home the gold medal in Sunday’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol men’s event at the Chengdu FISU World University Games, edging Kazakhstan’s Nikita Chiryukin by only two points after a total of 60 shots delivered at the Chengdu Shooting Sport School.
“I was thinking that I am able to win a medal, but to win gold, it’s just the cherry on top,” said Rampula, a student at the University of West Bohemia.
The winner also emphasized the special personal meaning of this year’s FISU Games.
“It means quite a lot to me competing here because for the next University Games, they didn’t choose shooting as an optional sport.”
Poland’s Oskar Miliwek brought home the bronze medal.
“I would like to thank my friends,” said Miliwek, looking at his competitors in a post-event press conference. “We did compete in a very great final and I am very thankful to them because it was a very tough fight.”
In the second event of the afternoon, the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions, India’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar reached the top of the podium, adding to theShooting Aishwary Tomar Gold Rifle 3PositionsAishwary Tomar, India bronze medal he captured in the team event earlier in the day.
“I am very proud to win those medals for my country,” the student at India’s Guru Nanak Dev University said. “These competitions here really give a vibe of the Olympic Games.”
And with the similarity to the Olympics comes the pressure on the athletes to perform well, especially in a sport requiring as precise skills as shooting.
“Concentration definitely is an important part of our sport,” Gavin Barnick, the American silver medallist of the rifle 3 Positions event confirmed. “When I’m shooting finals, most of the time, my head doesn’t even register what’s going on around me. I just listen for whether I’m told to sit down or keep shooting.”
Barnick’s contenders, however, are using different strategies to cope with the high pressure of the elimination shoot-outs in the final round of rifle and rapid-fire pistol events.
“I’m always listening to music before the competition starts,” revealed Tomar about his gold-winning strategy. “During the shooting, I sometimes do breathing exercises.”
Rampula relies on music as well. “I always listen to a Czech musician – it’s my ritual.”
As for Jiri Pivratsky, securing Czech Republic’s second podium by winning silver in the Rifle event, no strategy seems needed.
“Honestly, I’m not doing anything special,” he said with a laugh. “Before the event, there are usually some friends from our team around, so we are just making jokes to release the pressure.”
Written by Annika Saunus, FISU Young Reporter
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