Tamil Nadu’s N. Gaayathri demolished a field of experienced and promising juniors to win the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position competition in the 60th National shooting championship at the Balewadi Sports Complex here on Thursday.
After Haryana’s Aditi Singh had beaten her to the gold in the juniors, Gaayathri turned out to be quietly ruthless in her execution of shots in the kneeling, prone and standing positions in a field that had proven winners like Anjali Bhagwat, Tejaswini Sawant, Elizabeth Susan Koshy and Aditi.
It was a stunning display by the Coimbatore girl, who became the first individual gold medal winner from Tamil Nadu in the senior category after two decades. Roopa Unnikrishnan was the last shooter representing the State to win gold.
Remarkable was Gaayathri’s control and consistency in hitting the targets right through the 45 shot final that she and Kerala’s Elizabeth completed after six other lowest scoring finalists were eliminated after the start of the single-shot Standing Position round.
After the eight contenders had completed the sighter shots, Gaayathri started with a bang throwing up aggregate scores of 50.2, 50.0 and 50.6 in the kneeling position three series consisting of five shots each.
She sustained her accuracy in the prone position to lead with a score of 302.6 at the conclusion of 30 shots. Lying low after the kneeling-position round, Elizabeth staged a fantastic recovery to take the third position behind Anjali.
It was in the standing position that Gaayathri, who showed poor scores during the preparation sighter shots, surprised all, including herself and coach Satgurdass. Once the competition reached the medal round, it became more or less clear that Gaayathri would be crowned champion. She had a run of 10.6, 9.0, 9.3, 10.3 and 10.0 in the last five single shot series as she won by a distance.
Talking to The Hindu , Gaayathri said: “Last year I won the gold in the juniors and a bronze in the seniors. This time its gold in the seniors and silver in the juniors. It’s quite a nice feeling. I was disappointed not winning the juniors and I just wanted to prove myself in the seniors. I think it’s an okay score, not as much I had expected.
“I am planning to work a lot on Standing Position shots as I am kind of weak in that. Usually I lead up to Prone Position and then drop below third position after the Standing shots. But today I showed signs of improvement as I did not drop after the Kneeling and Prone Position shots.
“The electronic targets installed at the [Coimbatore Rifle] Club has helped me a lot. I was confident of winning gold in the juniors and thought I have to fight it for positions in the seniors; it happened the other way around. I am very happy. I am done with juniors now.’’
Satgurdass said: “I am happy she has won the senior gold. But I have to prepare her for tough competitions. We are working on her technique in the Standing Position. The electronic targets at the CRC will help her. I have been coaching her for two years now. There or only four or five shooters in Coimbatore and in 3 positions, only Gaayathri and Abirami.”
The results:
Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position: 1. N. Gaayathri (TN) 450.3(577), 2. Elizabeth Susan Koshy (Ker) 445.3 (577), 3. Anjali Bhagwat (Mah) 431.9 (576), 4. Aditi Singh (Har) 420.0(578), 5. Tejaswini Muley (Rlys) 409.7(575), 6. Anjum Moudgil (Chd) 398.8(580), 7. Tejaswini Sawant (Mah) 388.1(586), 8. Amandeep Kaur (BSF) 378.9(573).
Team: 1. Maharashtra (Tejaswini, Anjali, Priyal Keni) 1729.0, 2. Haryana (Aditi Singh, Kajal Saini, Meena Kumari)1715.0, 3. Tamil Nadu (N. Gaayathri, W. Sandhya, Srnithi Abirami).
