The Indian shooter Tejaswini Sawant on Sunday added a milestone of glory and pride to her nation after she became the first Indian woman shooter to win a gold at the World Championships. She made a world record by equalling score in the 50m rifle prone event in Munich. The shooter dedicated the medal to her father, who had been her pillar of strength and passed away earlier this year.
Tejaswini shot 597 (100,100,100,99,99,99) and was tied with Polish shooter Ewa Joanna Nowakowska, equalling the 1998 record set by Marina Bobkova of Russia. She was declared winner with a better perfect score tally of 41. Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan won the bronze with a score of 596.
After winning the medal, the Kolhapuri girl recalled how at one point it was a hard nut for her to crack and how financial constrains forced her to consider giving up shooting, but the strong support of her family, especially her father, kept her going.
"I dedicate this gold to my father," Tejaswini said.
Tejaswini's father passed away on February 23 when she was vying at the Commonwealth Championships.
"I was shattered after hearing the news, but I could not leave the competition. I was part of the team and had I left, the team would not not have been able to participate," she said.
"I owe it to him. On many occasion I told him that I will not go for the camps and tournaments, because it was getting difficult for my family to afford it. We have seen some bad days. But he would always tell me to continue shooting and somehow he would manage the finances," said Tejaswini, 29, who won two gold medals in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games in the air rifle event.
She won gold medals in 10m air rifle singles and 10m air rifle pairs (with Avneet Kaur Sidhu).
Tejaswini says she could have broken the world record but nerves got the better of her in the last shot.
"When I came to know that I would break the world record if I shoot 100, I became nervous. And that affected my performance in the last shot in which I scored 599. But I am very happy to become the firstIndian woman to win a gold in a World Championship."
Tejaswini is now looking forward to give of her best in the October 3-14 Commonwealth Games.
India's shooting coach Sunny Thomas was overjoyed and overwhelmed with Tejaswini's performance.
0 comments:
Post a Comment