The Hindu : Rajkumari Dodiya claims bronze

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 05, 2002

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Rajkumari Dodiya claims bronze

By Kamesh Srinivasan

LAHTI (FINLAND) JULY 4. The unassuming Rajkumari Dodiya claimed the bronze medal in the 48th shooting World championship here, providing a shot in the arm for the Indian challenge.

Braving the cold and windy conditions, Rajkumari kept the Indian flag fluttering with a fine effort of 586 out of 600 in the prone event of the junior women's section.

It is the second junior medal claimed by an Indian. Jaspal Rana won the gold in standard pistol way back in 1994. And it is the third ever medal from World championships after Dr. Karni Singh's silver in trap a few dacades earlier.

It could well have been the gold for Rajkumari, but for the 20-year-old having two rounds of 96 including the last. She had a series of 99, 98, 96, 98, 99 and 96. She was in the No.1 position for most of the time before being pushed out by Daniela Peskova of Slovakia who shot a 588, with rounds of 97, 97, 98, 97, 100 and 99.

``I feel very happy. Looking at my score I never expected to win a medal, but Abhijeet Konduskar and Ronak Pandit told me to go back to my position and pray to God after I had come close to the stands'', said a beaming Rajkumari, quite thrilled at having won the medal.

``I was never under any pressure through out the competition. I felt normal, as there were so many shooters who were better than me. I had studied the wind well, and the Lapua ammunition also gave me a lot of confidence.

Twice I had 8s and that was because of the wind. Looking back, I feel that if I had concentrated a little more I could have shot a 390 and won the gold itself,'' said Rajkumari, who was quick to call her mother in Mhow to convey the message.

Rajkumari, who trains under coach Major A.S. Basur at the Infantry School in Mhow, had captured the gold in the national championship with a 588, her best effort to date. She had taken 30 minutes then, and needed 45 minutes on Wednesday to finish her card, as against the stipulated time of one hour and 15 minutes.

Quite significantly, Rajkumari had not crossed 585 in the recent trials, and had shot a miserable 576 in the Sydney World Cup.

In fact this was her first international medal in the prone event after having missed one by 0.8 points in the Commonwealth Championship last year. Rajkumari had, of course, won two other bronze medals in international competitions.

Considering the unfriendly conditions, it was indeed a marvellous effort by the confident young girl who is slowly growing in stature.

``I was keeping an eye on the foresight and kept glancing at the flag to study the wind. It feels great to overcome the conditions and win a medal at this level,'' said Rajkumari who overcame a strong field of 52 shooters.

``Now I feel that I can do better. If we can shoot every shot with concentration, we can also be champions. I remember the words of Major M.S. Chowhan, who used to say that we make our destiny'', said Rajkumari, as she recalled the contribution of her mentor.

The Slovak Daniela withstood a late surge by Dorothee Bauer of Germany, who also shot a 588, but missed out on the gold 98 to 99 on the last round. It was a fine effort by Dorothee as she overcome a bad start to catch up with the leaders. She had a series of 94, 100, 97 100, 99 and 98, to push Rajkumari to the bronze.

The other two Indians, Bhavana Sindhu and Meena Kumari, finished joint 20th and 26th respectively. Bhavana had rounds of 98, 94, 98, 93, 98 and 96 for a 577 while Meena had a series of 94, 97, 95, 96, 96 and 96 for a 574.

The Indian team had to be content with the joint fifth position at 1737, while the gold went for 1747. Meena Kumari had shot a score of 591, and felt miserable about her fare this day.

The mood however changed in the evening as the team celebrated the 16th birthday of Shweta Chaudhary.

There was some problem at the 50-metre range earlier as targets 33 and 34 gave wrong scores, according to the director of competition Ari Lahdesmaki. It affected the results, but quite mercifully, only in the men's prone event.

Rathore finishes joint 12th

Meanwhile, in the double trap range, Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who had set the day on fire with a perfect first round of 50, a rarity, could not continue in the same fashion on Thursday.

He ended a creditable joint 12th with a 136. He had rounds of 41 and 45 in the second and third, and missed making the final by a mere two points.

Having shot only a 124 in finishing joint 37 in the World Cup in Suhl, Germany, it was indeed a splendid improvement by Rathore, the national champion.

Moraad Ali Khan had rounds of 39, 38 and 43 for a 120, which fetched him a joint 50th place in a field of 70 shooters. Ronjan Sodhi finished joint 60th with a total of 114 as he had rounds of 37, 40 and 37.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Indian team trained with renewed focus, pepped up by the effort of Rajkumari. Abhinav Bindra got his gun on Wednesday itself, and was focussing on the task as well as anyone else in the Indian camp.

Rajkumari's effort may just be the beginning, the launching pad for bigger achievements.

The results: junior women: 50m sport rifle prone: 1. Daniela Peskova (Svk) 588; 2. Dorothee Bauer (Ger) 588; 3. Rajkumari (Ind) 586.

Team: 1. Slovakia 1747; 2. Russia 1742 (288); 3. US 1742 (287); 5. France and India 1737.

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