Mayank Chaphekar's journey to becoming India's first-ever pentathlete to compete at Asian Games

Mayank and his coach & father Vaibhav Chaphekar have become first father-son duo to travel for Asian Games in modern pentathlon.

India is scheduled to make its debut in modern pentathlon at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023. Mayank Chaphekar from Maharashtra will be the first pentathlete to represent India in Modern Pentathlon. The sport consists of five sub-categories — freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, cross country running and fencing.

Modern pentathlon was first introduced to the Olympics in 1912 and since has gone through several changes. In the years to follow, there are talks of removing horse riding from the list of events specified and replacing it with Ninja Obstacle. However, the decision on this is yet to be made official.

Mayank, apart from being the first Indian pentathlete, is also the only athlete from the nation to feature in the UIPM global rankings.

Asian Games selection "Saga"

Over the years, Mayank has endured long periods of struggles but has always held fast to the sport. However, August 2023 brought a taller hurdle to his already topsy turvy journey as Mayank had to knock the court's door for a place in the Asian Games squad.

The Modern Pentathlon Association of India had shortlisted few athletes for the Asiad but that did not get a final approval from the Sports Ministry. Modern pentathlon was among the list of sports dropped from the list of disciplines that was to have Indian representation at Hangzhou.

For Mayank, the fight to get on the flight to Asian Games started here as he was deemed eligible to take part in the quadrennial extravaganza. He narrates the happenings behind the scenes with respect to the qualification scenario.

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"Initially, we had the national trials, and the top four athletes were selected to participate in the Central Asia Cup in Kyrgyzstan. After finishing the trials on top, I had a good race in the Central Asia Cup and was in the top four for most part of the race.

"However, in the final event — horse riding, my horse messed up which ultimately stopped me from gaining points. But without taking into account the points on offer in horse-riding, I finished inside the top 11. Had I completed horse riding then I would have finished inside top eight. We (his team), therefore, went ahead and put forward a presentation for my consideration for the Asian Games.

Unpredictability of the sport

"To be honest, horse riding is a very unpredictable event, and we are given horses to ride only 20 minutes prior to the competition. Even top Olympic athletes sometime fail to perform in horse riding. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) had shortlisted my name in the initial list alongside few other pentathletes. But after few days, to my surprise, my name wasn't included in the final list approved by the Sports Ministry.

"As I said earlier, horse riding is a very unpredictable event and, on any given day, a top rider can drop to the bottom and vice versa. During the event, the organizers provide us with horses, and we have to prove to them (organisers) that we are capable enough to ride with that particular horse in the warmups or else we are not allowed to participate. There is high risk involved in riding horses, so the organizers are pretty careful w.r.t to this event.

"Despite these difficulties, I did well in the Central Asia Cup. But still as I was not picked, we had to file a petition in the Haryana High Court. Also, my performance graph is on a high for the past few years. So, after several meetings with SAI where we exhibited several presentations on my performances, they asked me to wait until September 15.

"In the end after several blockades, my name was included in the final squad and with this, I have become the first Indian to qualify for modern pentathlon in the history of the Asian Games.

"The purpose of my fight was due to the Olympic qualification points the Asian Games has on offer. Top five athletes from each NOC at the Asian Games automatically book a spot for the Paris Olympics 2024.

"This wasn't the case before as the Asian Championships, which was originally scheduled to be held this year, was given priority previously. But due to the postponement of the Asian Games, the Asian Championships was held last year, Now the Asian Games has been given priority for Olympic qualification.

"Had the Asian Games taken place last year (as originally planned), I would not have put in this much effort since the Asian Championships would still be there and would have been the primary qualifying tournament for Paris Olympics. But due to the postponement, I had no other choice but to compete in the Asian Games. To add one more point here, me and my father Vaibhav Chaphekar (who is also his coach) are the first father-son duo to travel for Asian Games in modern pentathlon.

Mental health

On the mental health struggles he had to experience due to non-selection and the subsequent battle, Mayank said, "I'm a very spiritual person and believe in my religion and culture. Alongside my prayers everyday, I meditate and read the Bhagavad Gita frequently. Reading the Gita has helped me a lot in terms of attaining wisdom and growing stronger.

"Even after I was selected in the final squad, I remained calm. I was happy and stayed within my limits with an aim to achieve a greater success in the competition. My focus has always been to perform well in the event I am going to take part next, whichever it may be.

Journey since 2015

"Mayank's journey to taking up modern pentathlon started back in 2015. Initially, I started taking part in the Biathlon and Triathlon games. My father left his job to help me pursue my career. One more important person who helped me kickstart my career was Kailash Akhade. With the sport being very new to India and its uniqueness, I wanted to take up modern pentathlon.

"However, the start wasn't easy as I had to run everywhere to avail practise facilities. For swimming, I used to travel to Thane and then for Fencing, travel to some other place. My whole day was occupied with travelling and practise. Eventually, in 2018, I joined the Army Sports Institute (ASI) which has most facilities that the sport require.

"After few years of taking up the sport, I attended a World Cup in Egypt. The sport is very popular in the country and the training facilities there were awesome. Given how much I had been impressed by the facilities there, I wanted to practise in Egypt for a few months but then decided to stay back until the Olympics.

"Coach Rauf Hossam — Level 4 UIPM coach — along with my father scheduled a plan on how I should go about my practise. He has played a major role into what I am today with respect to my training. On the other hand, Captain Mustafa was the one who taught me Fencing.