Heena tames conditions to win gold
An otherwise steady shooter, Heena Sidhu has often faltered in the final. For some reason or the other, she has not been consistent with her performances in the deciding round.
It was something that she has been working on to improve. Her coach and husband Ronak Pandit concentrated on simulating the worst possible conditions during training so that Heena could be ready for every eventuality.
“In the last two months we simulated the worst conditions for her. We created windy conditions, made lot of noise and disturbance during training. The idea was to help her be ready for all situations and shoot her best,” said Ronak.
But both could not have imagined the dramatic situation Heena had to overcome here on Tuesday on her way to gold medal in the women’s 25m sports pistol competition, with a new Commonwealth Games record. This was her second medal, adding to the silver she won in 10m air pistol two days ago.
Heena had to shoot under tremendous pressure in the qualifying stage as she was hit by an empty shell from the next station and could not take two shots.
The 25m sports pistol event is held in two stages --- precision and rapid fire rounds to test the shooters ability to the fullest.
At the Belmont Shooting Complex on Tuesday, Heena was placed seventh after the precision round, in which she was bothered by the windy conditions and also made a slight wrong adjustment to her gun.
Things got more dramatic in the rapid fire stage as Heena was hit on her arm by an empty shell from a nearby station and could not take her shot. “As we can claim relief for disturbance, we lodged a protest. The officials admitted it and allowed her to shoot again but before she could take a shot, the competition officer announced the next shot and Heena’s previous shot too was registered as zero as the person handling the targets did not reset it properly.”
INDIA LODGE PROTEST
“As manager of the team, I protested and aggressively told them that how can the shooters be asked to arm their guns for the next shot even before the protest on the previous one was resolved. I told them that she will not shoot till a decision is taken.
“So, while other shooters completed their routine, Heena waited for them to take a decision on the protest. They finally realised the mistake and allowed her to shoot. So, she attempted the last 10 shots of her qualifying series alone with all the competitors and spectators watching her. She shot superbly under tremendous pressure and qualified in the third position,” Ronak added.
It’s difficult to shoot at a target that is not much bigger than the tip of a small pin. Doing that alone with the entire stadium wondering why one is doing so when the competition is over is nightmarish. But she came up with one of her best efforts in recent times. Heena not only managed that to qualify for the final but went on win gold medal. She took lead
Heena took the lead from Australia’s Elena Galiabovitch in the third elimination round, following two fives and a four. She
DRAMATIC WIN Claims gold in 25m sports pistol with CWG record despite disruption after being hit by empty shell GOLDCOAST: We created windy conditions, made lot of noise and disturbance during training. The idea was to help her be ready. She attempted the last 10 shots of her qualifying series alone with the competitors and spectators watching her. She shot superbly.
RONAK PANDIT, On the disturbance
increased the margin to three in the next round (31-28) as Eleanor Bezzina of Malta bowed out in fourth place, the same position she finished in the 10m air pistol.
In men’s 50m rifle prone, Chain Singh could manage fourth position.
Gagan Narang, London Olympics bronze medallist in men’s 10m air rifle, qualified third but eventually finished seventh among eight competitors.