The Hindu : Sport : Tejaswini, Anjali salvage pride

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Saturday, Sep 22, 2007
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Sport - Sports : General

Tejaswini, Anjali salvage pride

NEW DELHI: They are two of the best women rifle shooters in the country.

However, the constant training may have already robbed them of their place in their favourite event in the national squad for the Asian shooting championship to be staged in Kuwait in December.

With the selection trials, featuring a set of four competitions in each of the rifle and pistol events, taking place immediately after the rigorous training stint in Germany, the leading shooters have not been able to strike their best form at the Dr. Karni Singh Range at Tughlakabad.

Yet, Tejaswini Sawant and Anjali Bhagwat, unable to push their cases strongly in the air rifle event, made sure that they were close to their best in the sport rifle 3-position event.

While Anjali already has an Olympic quota place in the 3-position event and has understandably been focusing on that, Tejaswini has found the quota place elusive so far.

The 27-year-old Tejaswini could not hide her disappointment, and said she had badly wanted to do well in the air rifle event in the trials. A below par fare, with scores ranging from 391 to 394, may have put paid to her hopes, as Suma Shirur, Priya Aggarwal and Avneet Kaur Sidhu had fared better.

Avneet was only marginally better than Anjali, but may get the nod in air rifle as she had won an Olympic quota place in that event in the World championship.

“It is natural that one’s form goes up and down. I tried to salvage something in the 3-position event and I am glad with better results. I had finished ninth in the World Cup in Munich with a 580 in this event, and would have possibly got the quota by making the final then. “I will train hard in the next two months and try to win the quota in Kuwait. I hope luck supports me there,” added Tejaswini, after winding up with an impressive 583 in the fourth trial on Friday.

She eventually won the first place, despite a 94.7 in the final, as she had taken a seven-point lead at the preliminary phase over Anjali who shot an impressive 100.4 in the final.

“I need to work on improving my score in the standing position. I have time to do that,” said Tejaswini.

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