-Trisha Ghosal at the shooting range in Hangzhou.
It was a great morning for India at the shooting range with the men’s 10 metre air rifle team winning the gold, India’s first gold at the Asian games in Hangzhou.
Abhinav Bindra, one of the greatest Indian athletes ever, was just touching down in Zurich at that point in time and soon after his flight landed we spoke to him. Abhinav was following the competition from the flight and was delighted with the effort. “This is a world class effort” Bindra said, before he went on to add that each of these shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil and Divyansh Panwar are capable of winning an Olympic medal.
In the team event, the Indians also shattered the world record which was earlier held by China in their own backyard and thereafter in the individual final Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Rudrankksh Patil were locked in a contest for the third and fourth spots, which was eventually decided by a shoot off.
Can the Indian 10 metre air rifle team go on to win other medals?
They have terrific representation in the mixed event as well and with the women winning medals yesterday and the men today hopes will indeed go up. But for the moment the real story is the men’s team which has won India’s first gold medal in Hangzhou.
Till the middle of the competition it was the Chinese and the Koreans who were taking the first and second spots with India in 3rd. But then there was a real late surge from the Indians, which saw them take pole position. It was a very good finish from Rudrankksh, Divyansh and Aishwary and each of them mentioned the joy when we spoke to them soon after. “Winning the team gold with a world record feels great. And it is also my first individual medal, which adds to the occasion”, said Tomar. Rudrankksh, disappointed at having not made the podium in the individual, was all praise for Tomar. “It will be good learning. We will get better from here on and do our best at Paris. I am very pleased for Aishwary”, he said.
Suma Shirur, coach of the Indian team, was understandably delighted. “I am very pleased with the effort but to be honest I had expected us to win medals in every event. This is basis the preparation and the performances we have put in training. These boys and girls have handled pressure well and that’s what has been great to see”, said Shirur.
As people were waking up in India, the news of the first gold medal made the morning a fantastic one. And for me to see it in front of me with the tri colour going up and the national anthem playing was just surreal. Here is to more gold medals.
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