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‘The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for; so value what you have, always stay humble and remember that there is no substitute for hard work.’ The statement best describes India’s young shooting sensation or the Beacon Of Light For Indian Women Rifle Shooters – Apurvi Chandela
Living by this philosophy of her father, Apurvi Chandela has jumped from one milestone to another, with a lot of focus and hard work, in the last few years. She is the second Indian to win the gold medal at ISSF after Anjali Bhagwat.
The emerging star has multiple facets to her personality and has had an exciting journey. Did you know that she shot a score of perfect 10 on the first visit to a shooting range? Today we cover these and many more interesting facts about the rising star in Apurvi Chandela’s biography.
Apurvi Chandela Biography
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Apurvi Chandela Family
Apurvi Chandela was born and brought up in Jaipur. Her father, Kuldeep Singh Chandela, is a hotelier and her mother, Bindu Rathore, is a homemaker. Apurvi has done her graduation from Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University. She has a degree in Sociology with honors.
Apurvi has balanced her sporting career and education really well. She always wanted to pursue a career related to sports, if not be a sportsperson. Her agenda was to be a sports journalist. However, life had bigger plans for her.
Apurvi Chandela Journey
Rifle shooting was never really the plan for Apurvi when she went to a local shooting range in Jaipur. Not comfortable with a piston, she picked up a rifle and ended up shooting a complete ten!
Her father was mighty impressed with this and was the first to discover her inherent talent. Her uncle was equally supportive and built a shooting range in his own backyard.
Apurvi took to rifle shooting as a fish takes to water. She started bagging awards and won the bronze at state-level competition.
Apurvi Chandela Shooting Graph
Apurvi entered the senior circuit with a bang. In her very first year, she won the gold medal at the 2012 National Shooting Championships in New Delhi. In 2014, she won two individual and two team medals at the Intershoot Championships in The Hague.
She followed it up with a stellar gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The win was all the more special for Apurvi as she had suffered an ankle ligament tear just before the tournament. Although she was in pain, she gave it her all and made the nation proud. In 2015, Apurvi won the bronze medal at the World Cup. It was truly a special win for her.
Apurvi qualified for the Rio Olympics in 2016. She qualified on the basis of her bronze medal at the Changwon World Cup and became the first Indian woman to do so. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get a podium finish.
For the Asiads, Apurvi started training under National Champion Rakesh Manpat. Their hard work bore fruit as she won the bronze medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event with Ravi Kumar.
All guns blazing! 🇮🇳
Apurvi Chandela may have won a bronze, but her performance was pure gold! With a score that would have taken her into the finals of any international match, she is indeed a player of great potential and promise. #CWG2018 #RangDeTiranga #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/dxy9YOi5Le
— Col Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) April 9, 2018
At the 2019 ISSF World Cup, she won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle event.
A historic accomplishment by a stellar athlete!
Congratulations to @apurvichandela for winning the Gold in the 10m Air Rifle event at the ISSF World Cup. Her success makes every Indian proud and motivates more youngsters to excel in various sports! pic.twitter.com/fVGS3Cnfyk
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 23, 2019
Interesting Facts About Apurvi Chandela
- Apurvi’s hobbies include reading and traveling. She also loves to play basketball.
- Abhinav Bindra is Apurvi’s shooting hero. In fact, she took up shooting after his Olympic gold medal.
- Her family has always been her biggest support. Her father encouraged her right from the beginning of her career, her uncle built a shooting range for her, and so it isn’t surprising that she takes her family to all her tournaments. Her parents accompanied her for international tournaments as well.
- Apurvi considers herself to be emotionally challenged! Most athletes are known for their emotional outbursts on the field, but Apurvi believes in keeping a check on her expressions. Her lack of reaction has become so famous that even some of her relatives have advised her to be more expressive.
“I try to stay neutral during both winning and losing. It’s a game at the end of the day, and all I do is try to give my best on that given day and hope that my best is enough. I cannot deny the fact that it does take a lot of strength from within to fight it out and remind myself why I’m doing this…that this is the sport that gives me happiness. So I need to pull myself together and keep moving forward,” she told the Verve Magazine in an interview.
Well, as long as those medals keep coming, Apurvi doesn’t need to worry about anything else!
- Unwinding with her three dogs is the most relaxing part of her day. She has three pet dogs! She is an animal lover.
- Apurvi trains for around six hours every day. She also does yoga and meditates for mental fitness.
- If a biopic was made on Apurvi’s life, she would want Kangana Ranaut to play her role.
Apurvi Chandela Achievements
- 10m Air Rifle World Record 2019 – Gold
- ISSF World Cup, Changwon 2015 – Bronze
- Commonwealth Games, Glasgow 2014 – Gold
- National Championships, Delhi 2012 – Gold
- Intershoot Competition, Netherlands 2014 – Gold and Bronze
World Cup Final
| Year | Place | Event | Medal |
| 2015 | Munich, Germany | 10m air rifle | Silver |
World Cup
| Year | Place | Event | Medal |
| 2019 | New Delhi, India | 10m air rifle | Gold |
| 2015 | Changwon, South Korea | 10m air rifle | Bronze |
Commonwealth Games
| Year | Place | Event | Medal |
| 2014 | New Delhi, India | 10m air rifle | Gold |
| 2018 | Changwon, South Korea | 10m air rifle | Bronze |
Asian Games
| Year | Place | Event | Medal |
| 2018 | Jakarta Palembang, Indonesia | 10m air rifle mixed team | Bronze |
Awards
- Arjuna Award, India 2016
Social Media – Apurvi Chandela Photos
We are committed to supporting our talented sportspersons, helping them better their game and wish @apurvichandela all the very best. We look forward to your many victories champ! #RisingRajasthan #WomenRising pic.twitter.com/11tydXjgkS
— Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) April 29, 2018
@apurvichandela Was an honor meeting you.Inspiring & humbling.Wish you a huge success at #Rio2016 @OGQ_India #Thanks pic.twitter.com/ov5HQFdclo
— Vishesh Khanna (@VisheshKhan) May 31, 2016
Won silver at the World Cup Final in Munich!! Thank you so much for all the support!! @OGQ_India pic.twitter.com/F9NyrVGUhk
— Apurvi Chandela (@apurvichandela) September 5, 2015
The next target is Tokyo Olympics and Apurvi has already won a quota for it. Looking at her continued stellar performances, we are very hopeful of a podium finish from Apurvi!
