August 1, 2019
Indian para shooters have done the country proud at the at the Osijek
2019 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in Croatia with their rich haul of
medals. With this performance, India’s position in the Sydney 2019 World
Shooting Para Sports Championships looks solid as its likely to make the
minimum qualifying score with eight places.
Five gold medals, two silver, and four bronze. The cherry on top – four
world records. It was certainly a good run for Indian para shooters at the
Osijek 2019 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in Croatia.
With three of those records in junior events, the future of Indian para
shooting looks promising.
This is what the final tally looked like:
With this Nisha has won two golds at world cup competitions, raising hopes of
more medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Pretty amazing
given that this was her first world event. “It feels very, very nice,”
she said speaking after the event to the official media organisers. “My
first competition, and first medal, I can’t believe it. I’ve only been
shooting since 2018. I’m very lucky because my coaches and family have been
extremely supportive.”
Junior shooters Avani Lekhara, Manish
Narwal and Rubina Francis are showing great promise
too, making their presence felt in national and international events.
Paralympian Deepa Malik attributed the performance to the
continuous administrative support and guidance from the Paralympic
Committee of India (PCI).
It has been a stunning performance by our para shooters and in a short span
of three years a world class level for many new talents has been achieved.
Personally I feel more proud as women para shooters are also doing so well.
This speaks highly of the growth of Paralympics movement in India. Para
Shooting has a great future and sure medal-winning capabilities at the 2020
Tokyo Paralympics, I am happy to see a sea-stride improvement of para
shooting in the past three years” – Deepa Malik, Chairperson,
Para Athletes, Paralympic Committee of India
Colonel J.P Nautiyal, Coordinator, Shooting
Technical Committee PCI, says India’s para shooters are performing
amazingly well. “Their performances can be attributed to two factors –
coaches and the students themselves”, says Colonel Nautiyal, who is a
former national-level shooter himself. “The students are giving scores that
are on par with International Shooting Sport Federation
(ISSF) shooters like Saurabh Chaudhary. Their
performances are on par with non-disabled shooters”.
India’s chances in 2020 now look good. The win has boosted the shooter’s
morale. Speaking to the Paralympic organisers after the win, Rahul said he
was happy to have broken the record.
“It is some feeling to have broken the record. It is very important for us
because shooting is a high priority sport in India. During the gold medal
shoot-out with Manish I wasn’t thinking about the medal or scores, I was
only thinking about my technique. There’s no rivalry between us, he’s
like a brother to me”, he added.
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/india-para-shooters-hit-the-mark-at-croatia-event-set-4-world-records
