Rishabh Tripathi (name changed to protect privacy), 27, is worried. He lives in an 80-square-foot rented room in a double-storey house in Ayodhya town, its walls chipped, the floor cracked, the roof leaking. He is contemplating his next steps.

Tripathi, an ambitious State-level 10m air pistol shooter, feels his dreams are dying a slow death. He has just been on the website of the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UPSSSC), and is disappointed. Again.