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Slow start to a golden finish: Heena and Jitu prove their mettle

PTI10_24_2017_000170A India's Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu at the award presentation ceremony after winning the gold in mixed team 10m air Pistol event at ISSF World Cup Final 2017 | PTI
  • Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu gave the home team a golden start on the first day of the WCF, at the picturesque Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Tughlaqabad, New Delhi

India’s chief pistol shooting coach Smirnov Pavel harbours a strong dislike for the changes brought in by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), especially the introduction of mixed events. “The coaches were opposed to it, but the ISSF did not listen,” said Pavel in his broken English, fingers pointing to his ears. But a gold medal in the first mixed event of the ISSF World Cup Final (WCF) has pleased him. “In my heart, I am happy,” said the Russian.

Pavel is old school, a believer in the classical style of shooting; the mixed event, experimenting with different formats, is not to his liking. Nevertheless, both players and coaches have made adjustments.

Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu gave the home team a golden start on the first day of the WCF, at the picturesque Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Tughlaqabad, New Delhi. The duo, teaming together for the third time, had a slow start, but topped the qualification round with Rai scoring 385 and Sidhu 382. They beat the strong challenge posed by France and China in the finals, with a total score of 483.4.

The win marks Heena’s second WCF gold medal. She had won the individual women’s 10m air pistol gold in 2013. This is also Jitu’s second medal at the WCF level. He won silver last year, in the individual men’s 50m pistol event.

Pavel made his wards train harder in preparation for this particular event. Once, he even got them a simulated final round. It wasn’t surprising that both Heena and Jitu looked in sync with each other.

“We had been working on the mixed event. I am not happy with my score though, as I have shot higher in training. The training for the finals paid off," said Heena.

“It takes some time to get into the rhythm in this event. We spoke as to who should shoot first—Heena was good with that. I was happy going second as it gave me more time to prepare," said Jitu Rai. This was reflected in Rai’s shooting as he got into a rhythm as the final round progressed, shooting higher tens more often, including 10.9 twice in the elimination rounds.

Speaking about the slow starts by her and Jitu, Heena said, "both of us have that problem".

Coach Pavel didn't seem too bothered with the slow starts, just saying that all teams were taking their time adapting to the new format and event. The fact that Heena and Rai have shot together previously helped them today.

Meanwhile, one person was ecstatic about the introduction of mixed event—Raninder Singh, president of National Rifle Association of India. He was visibly delighted and said, “Both Heena and Jitu shot brilliantly. This reiterates the point made earlier during the first World Cup stage—the inclusion of mixed events in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will give India an edge. Heena and Jitu’s performance this year, as also that of our other mixed teams, drive home that point emphatically."

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Topics : #Shooting

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