World No.1 no big deal for Rizvi

New Delhi, May 3

The world No. 1 tag has earned young shooter Shahzar Rizvi many ‘friends’. He has been flooded with friendship requests on Facebook after his coronation as the top gun in the 10m air pistol discipline. So much so the number of such requests has gone beyond the maximum limit of 5000 in both his accounts on social media.
The young shooter, however, isn’t flattered; rather, he’s irritated by the sudden attention and constant notifications. To escape it, he dumped the responsibility of handling his social media accounts on his brother, Sharib. “Too much ho gya tha. So many requests! It was a needless bother, so I gave all passwords to my brother, he is handling it now. I’ve more or less decided to deactivate my accounts,” Rizvi told The Tribune on Wednesday, a day after he was given the top spot in the ISSF rankings.
Back-to-back medals, a gold and a silver, from the ISSF World Cups in Guadalajara and Changwon propelled the Air Force sergeant to the top of the rankings. The two podium finishes gave the Meerut shooter 1654 rating points, putting him ahead of Russia’s Artem Chernousov (1046 points) and Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda (803) after the two ISSF World Cups this year.
No big deal

The newfound popularity has left the new world No.1 a bit bothered. Apart from getting several friendship requests, he had a tough time answering several congratulatory calls. “I am happy to become the top-ranked shooter. But I don’t think this is a big achievement. It is a normal thing,” he said.
“Tomorrow some other person will become the world No.1 after four World Cups. For me, it is OK. I am happy but if I can stay on top for a year or so, I will consider it as an achievement.”
Early days

Playing down the hype around him, Rizvi stresses that he has shot in just two World Cups yet. “It is early days for me. I have only shot in two World Cups,” he said. “I knew I will become the world No. 1. I knew I will go top of the rankings the moment I won a medal in Korea. So yes, I am happy but it’s not such a big deal, we shouldn’t get carried away.”
Big targets

Rizvi has set a stiffer target for himself. He wants to be on the podium at the 2018 World Championships that will be held in Changwon, South Korea, in September. A podium finish there will ensure a quota for the country for the 2020 Olympic Games.
“I want to win a gold medal at the World Championships. If I do that, only then I will proudly say I have done something in life,” he said.