The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Shweta Choudhry sets national record

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 12, 2004

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Shweta Choudhry sets national record

By Kirti Patil

INDORE, OCT. 11 . Shweta Choudhry staked claim to a berth in the national squad with an impressive show by bettering the national record by 2.8 points in the women's 10m Air pistol event in the 48th National shooting championships at the Reoti Ranges near here on Monday.

Shweta shot a total of 480.7, after having scored record-equalling 382 in the classification round, to win the gold medal by some distance. In a field comprising all the three medallists of the previous Nationals, Shweta, who had four point lead going into the final showed good control to post 98.7 in beating World cup player Shilpi Singh (473.8).

The defending champion, Anisa Sayeed, held the old record of 477.9 but the railways shooter had a miserable day here. Anisa finished eighth aggregating 467.4.

"I am elated because first I equalled my personal best in competition and then held on to the lead despite tremendous pressure,'' said Shweta after winning her second gold in the senior section here. Central Industrial Security Force's (CISF) Shilpi Singh tried to bridge the four-point gap securing four 10s but towards the end she lost her focus.

"My score were affected in the final shots as I allowed myself to get tensed by the pressure. I started well, but I think I need to practice more to survive in such situations,'' said Shilpi.

Shweta's good score in the final earned her a berth in the `Champion of champions' final in which top eight shooters from both men and women's 10m air pistol finals contested against each other. Last year's silver medallist, Anu Raj Singh, was the second woman in the field, thanks to her 97.5 in the final.

Army's Mohammad Kalamuddin withstood the enormous pressure hitting bulls eye eight times while had two 9.7 in the 10 shots. In this format, after all shooters take five shots each, the one with lowest aggregate is eliminated. And then after every shot the shooter with the minimum score leaves the field.

Men's champion Samresh Jung survived nine shots, but his 8.7 on the fifth shot cost him the place in the three-shot summit clash. While Kalamuddin, Havildar with 17 Rajput battalion had a clear lead, Jung lost out to Karnataka's P. N. Prakash by 0.3 points. In the final, Kalamuddin had a series of 9.7, 9.3 and 10.1 while Prakash succumbed under pressure, shooting 9.2, 9.4 and 8.6.

"I am basically a free pistol shooter. I took up air pistol only recently and I am sure today's performance will give my career the required boost,'' said Kalamuddin.

In the men's 25m rapid-fire pistol final, Army's Ram Kishan won the gold medal with an aggregate score of 667.9. Starting with 574 and eight-point lead over teammate Pemba Tamang, Ram Kishan had a smooth route to the top place on the podium despite shooting the lowest score in the final (93.9).

Tamang (661.0) won the silver medal while Ronak Pandit took the bronze after beating Delhi's Rajiv Sharma in the tie-shoot.

"I play just this event and after missing the qualification for Athens Olympics by a few points, I am now concentrating on the 2008 Games,'' said the army Subhedar posted at Mhow.

Earlier in the afternoon, Meena Kumari gave Army yet another gold, winning the women's 50m sports rifle prone event, a non-Olympic event. She had a series of 97, 98, 100, 99, 98 and 100 for a total of 592. Raj Kumari, also of Army, claimed silver with 589 while Kerala's Sindhu U. settled for the bronze medal.

The results:

Men 25m Rapid-fire pistol: 1. Ram Kishan (Army) 667.9, 2. Pemba Tamang (Army) 661.0, 3. Ronak Pandit (Mah) 657.6 (46.7).

Team: 1. Army (Sandeep Singh, Pemba Tamang, Ram Kishan) 1686, 2. Navy (Harpreet Singh Lokpal Singh, Mukesh Kumar) 1654, 3. Maharashtra (Ashok Pandit, Ronak Pandit, Raj Khalid) 1653.Junior men: 1. Ronak Pandit (Mah) 560 (133), 2. Manoj Kumar (Army) 560 (125), 3. Vijay Kumar (Army) 559.

Women 10m Air pistol: 1. Shweta Choudhry (IA) 480.7 NR (old 477.90), 2. Shilpi Singh (CISF) 473.8, 3. Sarves Tomar (INF) 473.1.

Team: 1. Indian Airlines (Neha Sharma, Anu Raj Singh, Shweta Choudhry) 1117, 2. Infantry Kids (Pragya Rathore, Sarves Tomar, Bharati Singh) 1094, 3. Maharashtra (Sheila Kanungo, Harvinder Kaur Waraich, Priyanka S. Karande) 1091.

Junior women: 1. Shweta Choudhry (IA) 382, 2. Minerva Singh (Chd) 374, 3. Harveen Sarao (Chd) 373.

Team: 1. Indian Airlines (Neha Sharma, Anu Raj Singh, Shweta Choudhry) 1117, 2. Delhi (Suvidha Kitchloo, Nausheen Fatima, Ankita Choudhry) 1082, 3. Chandigarh (Harveen Sarao, Minerva Singh, Natasha Singh) 1080.

50m Sports rifle prone: 1. Meena Kumari (Army) 592, 2. Raj Kumari (Army) 589, 3. Sindhu U. (Ker) 589.

Team: 1. Army (Raj Kumari, Meena Kumari, D. V. S. Lakshmi Priya) 1765, 2. Railways (Anuja S. Jung, Suma Shirur, Deepali Deshpande) 1749, 3. Manipur (N. Indrasini, S. Sobita Devi, T. Aruna Devi) 1710.

Junior women: 1. Sindhu U. (Ker) 589 NR (old 588), 2. N. Saini Devi (Man) 586, 3. Pooja Reddy (AP) 575.

Champion of champions: 1. Mohammed Kalamuddin (Army) 103.2 (29.1), 2. P. N. Prakash (Kar) 101.5 (27.2), 3. Samresh Jung (CISF) 101.2.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport