30 May 2009. Despite good efforts in the preliminary round, Indian rifle and pistol shooters were unable to strike a medal in the finals of the Milan World Cup, which was the last of the four competition series.

Thus, Indian contingent couldn’t add to their medal tally of five won from previous three editions.

But what was heartening that as many as three shooters reached the finals in their respective events, and equal number narrowly missed the final berths.

It was a close contest for air rifle shooter Suma Shirur who holds the world record of 400/400. Going by her performance in the preliminary round (398), she entered the finals with an air of confidence. But in the final, minuscule error cost her a podium finish and she eventually finished fifth (499.7).

Similarly, pistol shooter Omkar Singh also made it to the finals of the men’s air pistol event by scoring 581, but poor show in the final 10 shots (94.6) put paid to his aspiration to corner glory in the global competition.

In the same event, Gurpreet Singh also shot 581, but he was pitted in the MQS category. Samresh Jung failed to catch up with his rivals, scoring 569, he finished down the ladder. The performance by his own standard was not-so-encouraging.

Narrow miss

But good efforts of Sanjeev Rajput in the preliminary round (595) came to a naught in the air rifle event when he narrowly missed the final berth in a shoot-off, and eventual finished 13th. As many as six shooters were tied for one final slot, Rajput was one of them.

Also missing the final berth by one-point was pistol shooter Heena Sidhu. She shot 383, which wasn’t good enough to fetch her place in the finals. In the same event Anisa Sayyed shot 384, but she was placed in the MQS category.

Lajja most impressive

However, the most impressive of them all was rifle shooter Lajja Goswami. She finished ninth in the women’s air rifle event (397) and one place better (8th) in the 50m three position event. In three position she shot 581 in the preliminary round and 96.7 in the finals (677.7).

Winning a place in the finals of the three position event in the back to back World Cups, speaks volume of this talented shooter. More so when she is participating with a borrowed weapon.

In fact, Lajja, who hails from Anand, Gujarat, journey to the global competition is a story of resilience. A former NCC trainee, started serious competitive shooting three year ago, though she made the national squad in no time, she had to depend on other shooter, for weapon, to hone her skills.

Her excellent run in the series of World Cups spanning over five weeks, it is believed, might change things for good. indianshooting.com

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