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Shooting
By Kamesh Srinivasan
The CISF inspector could not compete in the trials here prior to the team's departure, which would have given her the much-needed competitive edge after a long break. Anjali had to stay back in Mumbai to complete the process of acquiring the US visa on her new passport. ``I had a tough time completing this match because after a break of three months this was my first match. I was not as confident as last time,'' said Anjali when contacted in the US. Anjali had been well prepared the last time in the World Cup in Atlanta and had grabbed the Olympic quota. However, the lack of adequate preparation apparently helped Anjali to be very careful with each of her 40 shots in the preliminary phase, when she hit 39 perfect ones. ``I was too careful and conscious about all the shots. I had never made so many cancellations of shots in my life, as I did in the match in Fort Benning. But that was necessary, as I wanted to be perfect and not make a single mistake. No sub-conscious overconfident shot,'' said Anjali. Anjali was the only one with a 399 out of 400 from among 80 shooters. She easily had the edge as she has almost mastered the art of shooting well in the finals in which each shot has a maximum of 10.9 points as against 10 during the regular match. ``Oh! The 34th was a bad one actually, and I never thought that it would go to the ninth ring. I really couldn't understand. So, still a lot many things to learn,'' she said. A perfect 400 would have put Anjali's name along with other world record holders like Sun Hwa Seo of Korea, Jing Gao of China and Lioubov Galkina of Russia, who all shot a perfect score last season in Sydney, Shanghai and Munich respectively. Anjali, however, had the satisfaction of beating Galkina, the gold medallist of the World Cup finals in Munich, by a 1.6-point margin with a splendid effort in the final. Anjali had rounds of 10.3, 10.1, 9.8, 10.3, 10.7, 10.3, 9.6, 10.7, 10.9 and 10.5 for a 103.2. Anjali's closest competitor, compatriot Deepali Deshpande who was breathing down her neck before the final at 398, eventually missed both the Olympic quota and a medal by a narrow 0.3- point margin. Deepali, shooting in a big final for the first time in a long time, had a sequence of 10.3, 9.9, 10.0, 9.9, 10.6, 10.3, 10.6, 9.6, 10.4 and 9.6 for a 101.2. Those four 9s perhaps undid her good work. Galkina had rounds of 10.0, 10.6, 10.4, 10.1, 10.4, 10.7, 10.2, 10.2, 10.4 and 10.3 for a 103.6, but she had conceded a two-point lead to Anjali in the preliminary phase, and thus had to settle for the silver. ``Of course, I was expecting a medal, but wasn't sure about the colour. The final was great. Please believe me, that 10.9 was not a fluke, I really shot a perfect one. I was happy with the 103.2, and the final went very easy as compared to the preliminary match,'' Anjali remarked with understandable pride. Anjali is expected to return home by the fourth week of this month. The World Cup in Zagreb, Croatia, will be on, soon after, from June 2. ``I will try my luck without adequate practice. I am not overconfident, but need this holiday,'' said Anjali.
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