The Hindu : Samaresh, Deepali optimistic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2003

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Samaresh, Deepali optimistic

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI JULY 7. It was the first World Cup final for him, and Samaresh Jung missed the medal by 0.1 points and the Olympic quota place by 0.4 points.

Sounding cheerful, the CISF inspector, who had returned along with the team from the shooting World Cup in Korea on Sunday, observed that his eighth shot of 7.7 in the final undid his good work in the freepistol final.

"My rhythm was fine. I was taking only 15 seconds for every shot. That particular bad shot, I took about five seconds more, and once I pulled the trigger, I knew that I should have cancelled it and tried aiming again," said Samaresh, who fought brilliantly despite conceding a seven-point lead before the final. He ended up with a 10.5 last shot that bridged the gap by 1.6 points.

Accepting that he felt nervous shooting in his maiden final in a World Cup, Samaresh said that he was happy to have shot the best in an international competition, despite the bad shot.

Of course, he has shot 560 in international competition and 561 in the National Games. Except for the World Cup in Munich where his freepistol score dipped, Samaresh has been consistent, and sounded optimistic of getting the elusive quota place in the Asian Championship in February next year.

It was the same story on a slightly different line for Deepali Deshpande, as she failed to pin the Olympic quota place despite a three-point lead following a national record 586 out of 600 in the women's 3-position event.

"I am generally strong in the finals in 3P. But this was the World Cup and there was the pressure of the quota place. I had not prepared that well for the final. Others with better experience than me struggled in that final, and am not surprised that I couldn't achieve the target," said Deepali, trying to look at the positive side.

She had missed the quota place by 0.3 points in the air rifle event in the World Cup in Fort Benning earlier in the season, and the second disappointment was indeed a bit tough to swallow for the Mumbai shooter.

"I know that I am on the right track and moving in the right direction. We have a lot of time for training now. I will work on my physical fitness which is important for doing well in the standing position and in the finals. "Of course, my scores in the standing position in the regular match have improved very much over the last four World Cups. Mentally I feel strong. I am confident of getting the quota in Kuala Lumpur," said Deepali.

It was indeed a huge jump from her pervious best of 578 in the 3-position event for Deepali, and she emphasised that it strengthened her confidence of doing well both in air rifle and 3-position events.

Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat, who has already got the Olympic quota along with Abhinav, said that she could not do that well in this World Cup.

"Deepali shot very well, but we don't have so much experience in shooting the final in 3P. She couldn't settle into a rhythm," said Anjali, who has herself made it to the final of only two World Cups in 3P, as compared to the numerous medals and finals in the air rifle event.

National coach Prof. Sunny Thomas said that he was happy with the scores and the fact that the Indian shooters had made it to the finals in four of the five events that they had competed.

"We missed medals and quota places very closely. Abhinav Bindra and Samaresh Jung missed medals by 0.1 point. Abhinav missed gold by 0.6 points, and Samaresh missed quota place by 0.4 points. Two of them who did well — Sameer Ambekar and Pournima Gawhane — could not be in the final, because they were in the MQS category. We were a bit unlucky'', said the National coach.

"Nobody dreamt that Deepali would shoot a 586. She couldn't do that well in the final. Jaspal shot a 579 to make the air pistol final. If he trains hard, there is no reason why he cannot get a quota place for the Olympics'', said Prof. Thomas.

Sounding confident that the Indian shooters will have a fair chance of picking up a few quota places in the Asian Championship, the national coach said that the chances would be brighter as there would be two quota places on offer in most of the events.

"The Chinese have got the quota in many events, and the race will be among the rest. We are not far behind the Kazakhs, Japanese and the Koreans'', said Prof. Thomas.

It will be back to the training board for the pistol and rifle shooters, before they train their guns for the Olympic quota places. Of course, they will be able to fine tune themselves in the Commonwealth Championship in December, and the national championship.

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