World Cup Gold medallist Apurvi Chandela on Saturday called the fierce competition in the Indian women's air rifle team a good thing as it motivates her to go the extra mile — be in terms of "meditation" or "visualisation practices".

"All of them coming up is actually good for the sport. I needed to push myself further and I have been performing consistently since the last year," Apurvi said about the intense competition from Anjum Moudgil, Elavenil Valarivan and Mehuli Ghosh in this event.

"I looked at it in a way that I get motivated, push myself harder, I can't settle down at any score, there is no satisfaction that I think can take from it. That's actually a good thing for me. It keeps me motivated."

About the last few shots in Saturday's final, she said, "I was just trying to control my nerves, nerves do play a big role. I just asked myself to stay calm as it was a matter of few more shots."

The surprising but loud cheers from behind helped in the final, as she rallied to grab the second place with a 10.6 in the 11th shot. Rifle or pistol shooting events at the Dr Karni Singh Range never attracted such a turnout.

When asked about the noisy crowd, she said, "Actually the crowd was motivating me and I could hear 'India, India'. It helped me in sticking to my technique and executing each shot the way I wanted to.

"The pressure was there definitely, I am happy I could control it and execute."

Though she has secured a quota for the 2020 Olympics, she knows that she will have to maintain her form and scores in the run-up to the quadrennial extravaganza, to keep her place.

"When I got my quota also, the aim was not to get the quota only, it was just about following my technique and putting whatever I trained into use. I was focussed on every shot, keeping my calm."