Behind shooters' medal haul, pulse rates, simulation in 'war room' back home

INDIA'S TEENAGE ARMY of shooters continued to strike gold in Hangzhou, with 17-yearold Palak Gulia adding a sixth gold medal to the country's kitty on Friday. The seed of this golden harvest, after the medal famine at the last two Olympics, were sown in a tiny room in Delhi's Tughlakabad.

- MIHIR VASAVDA New Delhi September 29

In a cramped space, TV monitors and projectors are used to recreate the look and feel of a competition range and simulate match situations, and hi-tech devices attached to a shooter's body analyse every muscle twitch, activities of the brain cells, pulse rate and breathing patterns.

"It helps us find our most balanced state. I had a lot of sessions there," said Palak, the surprise winner of the 10m air pistol gold medal. "That helped a lot," said 19-year-old Esha Singh, who won four medals in the pistol events, including a silver behind Palak in the 10m air pistol.

The 18 medals India has won so far in shooting at the Asian Games is the most the country has won in a single edition. Four of those came on Friday. Apart from the two women medallists, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, who finished the Games with four medals, staged a sensational comeback to win a silver in the 50m Rifle 3-position, in which India also won the team gold medal.

Playing in front of partisan crowds against a strong Chinese team, some of India's young shooters looked unflappable under pressure. The reason, they said, was the simulation of such situations at the "war room".