The Hindu : Indian shooters on target

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 02, 2004

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Sport - Sports : General

Indian shooters on target

By Our Special Correspondent

India's Zorawar Singh, who won the gold in the trap event, chaired by coach Sanjeev Bahl (left) and teammate Birendeep Sodhi.

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 1. They are the big guns in the region. The Indian marksmen scooped six more gold medals from the shooting range in the ninth SAF Games at the Islamabad Sports Complex here on Thursday.

While pistol prodigy Jaspal Rana shot the rapidfire gold, having practised for the event a mere three days after a gap of about five years, trap marksman Zoravar Singh Sandhu was in irrepressible form as he overwhelmed the field with a world class fare, a 145 out of 150, winning the gold by a 15-point margin over Shahzad Noor of Pakistan.

Not to be left behind, Sanjeev Rajput came up with a new meet mark, like what Jaspal and Zoravar had done, and beat compatriot Fariduddin by nearly 30 points in clinching the freerifle 3-position gold.

The day belonged to the 25-year-old Zoravar at the range. Returning with an overnight score of 73 out of 75, Zoravar shot three rounds of 24 this day, in beating Mansher Singh's mark of 138 out of 150 set in 1995 in Chennai.

"I am an optimistic person. I didn't look at the fact that our main shooters were not here. It is a fantastic range, and am thrilled to shoot my personal best,'' said Zoravar, who missed the second bird in the final. He could have as well stopped midway through, and still taken the gold as he had built up such a huge margin.

The 20-year-old Birendeep Sodhi had a chance to fight with the Pakistani for the silver, but had to be content with the bronze, as the latter shot a fine final.

The Indian team, with Ranajit Nobis — finished fourth after a tie-shoot with Mahmood Sultan of Pakistan with a 119 — as the third member walked away with the gold, 29 points ahead of Pakistan.

Jaspal Rana made the final, six points ahead of Zahid Ali of Pakistan, and eventually won the gold with a 8.4 point margin. In fact, with his 574, Jaspal beat his own meet mark of 564 that he had shared with Dhaka from 1999.

It was as good as anyone could have expected from the ace shooter, who had won 16 gold medals from the last two SAF Games.

"I didn't want to disappoint my teammates, as I was put in the rapidfire team, as we could field only a limited number of pistol shooters, and had to make the combinations accordingly. I am not looking at how many medals I can win from here, but will give my best in each event,'' said Jaspal.

Three times champion Bhanwar Lal Dhaka, who had ruled the event for over a decade, went out of the medal bracket for the first time, thanks to a below par last shot of 6.0. The young Ronak Pandit combined with Jaspal and Dhaka to fetch the team gold for India.

In the three-position event, Sanjeev Rajput who had shown his prowess marginally in the air rifle event, returned a card of 1156 to beat the record of 1130 that had been set by G. M. Haider of Bangladesh in 1995 and equalled by T. C. Palangappa in 1999. Palangappa was happy to lend his shoulder for the team gold with Fariduddin.

After losing the air rifle individual gold in both the men's and women's events on the first two days, it was indeed a satisfactory day for India.

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