AMMUNITION HEADACHE FOR SHOOTERS
Palembang, Aug. 22: Rahi Sarnobat on Wednesday became the first Indian female shooter to win a gold medal at the Asian Games, achieving the rare feat by holding her nerve in a gripping 25m air pistol final which was decided by two shoot-offs, here.
The 27-year-old Deputy Collector from Kolhapur pipped Thailand’s Naphaswan Yangpaiboon in a heart-stopping contest after both were tied at 34 points following 10 series of five shots each, taking it to a shoot-off.
Both found the target four times in the first shoot-off, leading to another where Rahi shot three and the Thai managed two, ensuring a historic gold for the Indian. The bronze went to South Korea’s Kim Minjung.
Rahi was in the lead for the major part of the final and her first 10 shots were on target. She got a five out five even in the sixth series.
With her stellar effort, Rahi became the second gold medallist from the Indian shooting contingent after 16-yearold Saurabh Chaudhary fetched top honours in the 10m air pistol finals on Tuesday.
She is also the sixth Indian to shoot a gold at the Games, joining Chaudhary, Jaspal Rana, Randhir Singh, Jitu Rai and Ronjan Sodhi. Her 34 in the finals also ended up as a joint Games Record.
The talented Manu Bhaker, however, cracked under pressure to finish sixth in the finals.
The 16-year-old had a remarkable morning as she shot 593 to equal the Games qualification record. Rahi had sneaked into the finals in seventh place, shooting 580.
Rahi, who had become India’s first pistol shooter to win a World Cup gold back in 2013, had not won a major medal since the Commonwealth Games gold in 2014. An elbow injury which she picked up even before Glasgow set her back for the next two years.
Realising that she needed a tweak in her technique, Rahi roped in Munkhbayar Dorjsuren, two-time world champion and Olympic medallist from Germany.
“I had to change her technique and I also worked on her a lot on the mental aspect of the game. She was already a high-level shooter and needed some tweak in her game. It was a close final but I had prepared her for the shoot-off,” Dorjsuren, who moved to Germany from Mongolia, said.
The Mongolian-German coach also knows the legendary Gabriele Buhlmann well.
Buhlmann had coached Abhinav Bindra to India’s only individual Olympic DECCAN CHRONICLE THURSDAY | 23 AUGUST 2018 | HYDERABAD Palembang, Aug. 22: Backto-back scheduling of Asian Games and World Championships has forced the Indian shooting contingent to be frugal with the use of live ammunition.
A shooter can only carry five kg of ammunition on international flights and they always have to be meticulous while planning for tournaments. The squad knew of the schedule (World Championships begin in Korea on August 31) well in advance but the 5kg rules had led to shooters being more careful than ever.
Barring the 10m events where lead pellets are used, shooters shoot with live ammunition.
“The 5 kg ammunition per person is also inclusive of the packaging, so basically it comes down to 4.5kg. For a rifle/pistol shooter, that quantity equals to 1200 shots, which is four days of training,” pistol coach Ronak Pandit said.
“Here the organisers are co-operating but in World Cup and World Championships, you need about 700 shots for unofficial training, pre event training, elimination, qualification and final. Our planning for events starts well in advance. There is no room for error,” he said.
The situation is worse for big bore shooters.
“Since their ammunition is bigger and heavier, the five kg equals to just 200 bullets. Which means they have to be even more careful with how they use them. A lot of times then end up dry firing to save bullets,” said Pandit.
Lead pellets are not considered as ammunition on flights and being true team players, 10m shooters used their 5kg quota for their teammates. Even the support staff carries bullets on their name.
Some shooters including mixed rifle team bronze medallists Ravi Kumar and Apurvi Chandela, and silver medallist Deepak Kumar have already reached Korea for the World Championships. — PTI