The Hindu : Rathore claims gold

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Rathore claims gold

By Kamesh Srinivasan

Photo: S. Subramanium

WELL DONE MAJOR: India's Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (left), winner of the gold, is congratulated by Chinese Taipei's Chen Shih Wei (right) and Shih Wei Tin (middle) who won the silver and bronze medals respectively.

NEW DELHI MARCH 24. He was nervous. The gold looked like slipping from his grasp once again. Yet, he was too good a champion to allow for an anti-climax for the second successive week.

Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore rose to the challenge in a nerve-wracking final, to beat the reigning Asian Games champion, Chen Shih Wei of Chinese Taipei in claiming the double trap gold in the Asian clay shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Monday.

Having understood a thing or two about handling the climax while missing the World Cup gold and the Olympic quota along with it, at the same venue the previous week, the 33-year-old Rathore shot better than his rivals in the end to assure himself of the gold.

Going into the final with a three-point lead over the Asian Games silver medallist Shih Wei Tin of Chinese Taipei, after rounds of 46, 46 and 47 in the morning, Rathore looked ready to make it a formality in the final.

However, he went on a missing spree midway through the final, as the pressure got to him, even though the rest of the field was also equally erratic.

Rathore missed six birds in the second half of the final, after having missed only three earlier. At one stage, the third placed Chen Shih Wei was ahead of Rathore by one point. However, the seasoned Taipei marksman who had won the tie-shoot for the gold from two others in the Asian Games final, missed the 43rd, 44th, 47th and 49th birds to lose the race.

Rathore could afford to miss his last two birds and still get the gold. Not having calculated so much, he shot the 49th and perhaps out of sheer relief missed the last bird. He won by a two-point margin.

Talking about the final in which he shot only a below par 41, Rathore said that he needed to compete in more finals to be able to shoot normally, without feeling the pressure.

Rathore apart, it was a show dominated by the Chinese Taipei and Chinese, as the other five slots in the final were grabbed by these countries.

``I was happy to beat the tough Taipei guys here. The Chinese were only second best, and I was happy beating the `A' team of China in the World Cup'', said Rathore.

Wei Hong of China had taken the silver in the last Asian clay meet in Bangkok following a tie-shoot with compatriot Zheng Wang. This time around, he was reduced to fighting for the fifth place with compatriot Xi Jun, and won 2-1.

In contrast, Rathore had finished fourth and fifth in the last two editions. But then, he is in a different class these days, after winning two gold medals in the Commonwealth Games last year.

The Indian team missed the silver to China by one point, as Moraad Ali Khan could muster only a 115 with rounds of 38, 35 and 42. Gaurav Sondhi shot a 124 with rounds of 39, 41 and 44.

The Chinese Taipei walked away with the gold 17 points ahead of China, and placed all its three shooters in the final.

Shooting for the MQS, Ronjan Sodhi once again highlighted his ability with rounds of 34, 47 and 45 for a 126. Had he been part of the team, India could have comfortably got the silver, as was the case earlier in the World Cup. Dil Bahadur Thapa shot a 112, six points below the MQS score.

There was a lot of cheer for the host in the four-member women's field, as the 19-year-old Shagun Chaudhary shot a brilliant 34 out of 40 in the final round, to beat Li Yuxiang of China to the bronze. The other two Chinese shot too well to give a whiff of a chance of a better medal, for the second year Economics student of Jesus and Mary College.

``I was two points behind the third Chinese at the end of the second round. I am very happy to have shot so well under pressure. This is only my second international competition and I had not shot a 30 even in the national championship,'' said a beaming Shagun, daughter of skeet shooter Sushil Chaudhary.

Shagun had started with a 24 and built her form up to 28 and 34. From the 83 in the Grand Prix, it was an improvement for the young girl. The gold and silver medallists also shot their best, a 35 each, in their third round.

In fact, Shagun had competed in trap in two National championships before shifting to double trap in the last National at the same venue early in the season.

It was relatively a small field, and the junior event had to be scrapped as the two entrants Khoshnevis Siavash of Iran and Asab Ali failed to report. The Indian lad was busy with his school examination.

After a day of training, the trap and skeet events will be held on March 26 and 27.

The results:

Double trap: 1. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (139, 41) 180; 2. Chen Shih Wei (Tpe) (135, 43) 178; 3. Shih Wei Tin (Tpe) (136, 40) 176; 4. Wu Min Lun (Tpe) (125, 44) 169; 5. Wei Hong (Chn) (127, 39) 166 (2); 6. Xi Jun (Chn) (128, 38) 166 (1).

Team: 1. Chinese Taipei (Chen Shih Wei 135, Shih Wei Tin 136, Wu Min Lun 125) 396; 2. China (Wei Hong 127, Jing Fan 124, Xi Jun 128) 379; 3. India (Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore 139, Moraad Ali Khan 115, Gaurav Sondhi 124) 378.

Women: 1. Dai Qiwen (Chn) 96; 2. Liu Zhongyan (Chn) 94; 3. Shagun Chaudhary 86; 4. Li Yuxiang (Chn) 82.

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