‘Heena would have won more medals with extra event at Asiad’
MUMBAI: Her first individual bronze medal in Asian Games around her neck, ace shooter Heena Sidhu should be feeling vindicated in her stand against the team selected by National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for pistol shooting in Indonesia. Heena had complained when the NRAI “tweaked” its selection policy and picked her for only one event – 10m pistol in the Asian Games — putting youngster Manu Bhaker in three events ahead of the experienced Heena. The 28-year-old Heena overcame the pressure of the offfield controversy and also minor technical glitches with her pistol to win bronze medal in the 10m pistol event while Bhaker returned empty handed, reaching finals in 10m and 25m event. Though she was happy to win an individual medal to add to the silver and bronze medals from 2010 and 2014, Heena could not be faulted for considering that she was robbed of a chance of winning more medals.
“I am sure we would have similar result or better with an extra event. Take for example at the Commonwealth Games, Heena missed gold in 10m but came back strongly to win 25m with 38 hits, whereas the Asian Games gold came at only 34 hits,” Ronak Pandit, Heena’s husband and coach, told Hindustan Times in an email interview.
The controversy meant added pressure and both Heena and Ronak took the NRAI snub as a challenge. “Of course the media attention on these matters makes things tougher than usual but this is part of an athlete’s life. We discussed this issue several times and it was not easy. Finally we had to take it up as a challenge, we can’t be talking of Olympics etc. and not handle stress,” Ronak informed. Though the bronze medal proved her point on selection, Ronak made it clear it was not a personal battle with anyone.
Apart from a chance to win more medals, Heena also lost an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming World Championship in Changwon, South Korea, from August 31-Sept 15.
“Heena will be shooting all three events (at World Championships) so she has missed training 25m for over two weeks now. So we had to manage this aspect as well.”
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MEHTA STUNS YASIN, FAISAL MARCHES ON
Khar Gymkhana’s heavyweights Yasin Merchant and Faisal Khan, both playing with scratch handicaps, encountered mixed fortunes in their respective third round matches of the Khar Gymkhana Open Handicap Snooker Tournament.
RESULTS
Third round: Sankalp Mundhada (Thane, +45) beat Vaibhav Waingade (Panvel, + 40) 3-0; Anurag Bagri (ECC, +30) beat Swaroop Pillai (Thane, +45) 3-2; Anand Raghuvanshi (Hindu Gym, +20) beat Chetan Gangode (ECC, +50) 3-0; Aditya Agrawal (ECC, +20) beat Bhushan Shahade (Dadar Club, +45) 3-2; Abhimanyu Gandhi (Otters, +10) beat Tarun Kalra (ARC, +50) 3-1; Ameya Sankhala (Dadar Club, +45) beat V Subramanian (Matunga Gym, +25) 3-2; Pratik Thakkar (Thane, +45) beat Hasan Badami, CCI, +10) 3-1; Anant Mehta (NSCI, +45) beat Yasin Merchant (Khar Gym, SCR) 3-0; Faisal Khan (Khar Gym, SCR) beat Tanmay Raghuwanshi (Pune, +45) 3-1.