GURGAON: When Palak Gulia fired her first shot at the Hangzhou Asian Games final, her coach Rakesh Singh Thakur, watching live action on TV, says he could hear her heart race.Her first shot was off the mark at 9.1, but Thakur wasnt worried. He knew she would feel the pressure and pressure always brought the best out of the 17-year-old. "She is an extraordinary shooter, someone who excels in a pressure situation. With 23 shots remaining, I knew she had it in her to make a podium finish," Thakur told TOI, a day after Palak (17) won the 10m air pistol gold.The Faridabad girl, making her debut at a major multi-sport competition, was peerless in the final as she led the field from the 12th shot and never let go. She finished with an Asian Games record score of 242.1. "Im very happy. Its my second individual international medal at the senior level and that too an Asian Games gold for India with a games record. I want to thank my family for the support and motivation they have given me. I will do my best to bring further glory to the nation going forward," Palak said in a statement shared by her representatives after her victory. According to Thakur, Palak takes her time before a shot, firing only when she is sure to align it with the target. "Its a process she is used to. Normally, shooters become anxious if they are not able to hit the bullseye the first time, but she is a beast when under pressure," he said.Palak will return not just with her individual gold but also with a team silver. This is the second major individual medal for Palak in a senior international competition with just one year of international exposure after last years Asian Airgun silver.A BA first-year student at DAV College in Chandigarh, Palak took up shooting in 2018 for the first time. Back then, she had nurtured no immediate dream to play for India. It was more of a "recreational activity, a break from studies," taken up on the suggestion of her father Joginder Gulia, a businessman.She enrolled with a shooting team at her school, St. Xaviers in Gurgaon, for practice. When her father saw her perform well at the inter-school and inter-state championships, he decided to enrol her to a professional academy."They were living in Gurgaon, but the best shooting ranges were in Faridabad. Initially, she would travel daily to and from Gurgaon, but it soon became hectic. I have seen her carry books to the range because she was always scared that she may miss out on her studies," Thakur said. Palak wanted to prepare for NEET. To focus on her studies, Palak had even decided to drop out of the shooting academy after 2019. "I felt like I had lost a gifted shooter. Then came Covid-19 and I thought she would never return. But her father pushed her back into shooting in 2021. He moved the family to Faridabad to make it easy for her to train, without having to lose energy in commuting," Thakur added.After she rejoined, she had to take another break due to a shoulder injury. She recovered last year and started her preparations for the Asian Games in mid-2022. She started travelling with her coach to the two ranges in Ballabgarh and Faridabad where the latter used to run academies. She increased her daily shots to 200 and focused on her mental health. In the 2022 Asian Games qualification, she finished 7th and squeezed into the final eight. In the finals, she stood third scoring 49.9 after the first series as she dropped two of the five shots below 10. In May last year, she won gold at the ISSF Junior Cup in Suhl, Germany. She was part of the Indian womens team that won silver in the 10m air pistol team event at the Shotgun and Rifle/Pistol World Championships in Cairo the same year. Her uncle Jagbir Singh, a former zila parishad member, said Palak has always been very mature in her approach to the sport and life in general. "She takes wins and failures positively. Instead of blaming the grip, lights, pistol, coaches, or family atmosphere, she learns from her failures," he said.

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