It was in 1988, after being ignored by her schoolteacher for the GV Mavlankar pre-national shooting championships that Tejaswini Sawant made up her mind to become the best in the business.
That episode acted as a catalyst and today she is the world champion in rifle shooting. “My shooting could have ended at college. But, that incident acted as a catalyst and I started taking the sport seriously,” Tejaswini, who recently won gold in 50m rifle prone at the World Championships in Munich, told HT on the sidelines of a felicitation ceremony organised by Sahara India.
“Today, I realise how that incident played a positive role in my life,” said the 30-year-old Kolhapur shooter, who also equalled the world record on way to gold. “I had no idea that I had equalled the world record on the last shot. The wholehearted clapping gave me an idea that I had achieved something big.”
Tejaswini, who shot 597/600 to equal the record set by Russia’s Marina Bobkova in, confessed that the CWG would be a big opportunity for Indian shooters to assert their supremacy. “There would pressure on everyone. We have to live up to the home crowd’s expectations.”
{{/usCountry}}Tejaswini, who shot 597/600 to equal the record set by Russia’s Marina Bobkova in, confessed that the CWG would be a big opportunity for Indian shooters to assert their supremacy. “There would pressure on everyone. We have to live up to the home crowd’s expectations.”
{{/usCountry}}Dedicating the Munich success to her late father, Ravindra Sawant, Tejaswini said that besides her dad, coach Kuheli Ganguly too had a role to play in her success. “She gave me her weapon in my first nationals in 1999…since then she has been a pillar of strength for me.
Speaking about the financial problems faced earlier, she said, “Even after winning medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, I had to borrow money to buy weapons. But today I have no such worries as I have sponsors.”