I won the gold but missed the World record

Anjali Bhagwat

I expected to win at the Commonwealth Games as I had already won gold medals at the Commonwealth Championships in 1998 and 2001. The shooters at the Machester Games were the same, which is why I was oozing confidence. That helped me to easily claim the gold in the women's 10 metre Air Rifle Singles and pairs. I followed it up with two more golds in the 50 metre Rifle 3-position Singles as well as Pairs.

I must say that our level is quite good; almost good enough to win at the Asian Games. In fact, we might even win a medal at the Asian Games. Our scores are consistently high, which is why we are confident.

But I have always thought that the Asian Games is a greater challenge than the Olympics. Of course, my dream is to win a gold at the Olympics, but the challenge is greater here. The difference being that while only two shooters from a country can compete in an event at the Olympics, at the Asiad the number increases to three. The best shooters come from China and South Korea, which means there will be more of them at the Asian Games.

The shooters from South Korea and China are very good and I expect them to be the major challenge at the Busan Asiad. They have the added advantage of competing at the international level for the past 10-15 years, and with experience they have learnt a lot. We have started competing abroad only recently, and as recent results show, we are improving with every tournament. So you can only imagine the advantages of competing in tournaments over such a long period of time.

The Japanese, too, are improving very quickly and I won't be surprised if they upstage a few favourites at the Asian Games.

Each Chinese, Korean or Japanese shooter has his/her own statistician, coach, psychologist and a manager to take care of his needs at the tournaments. And that certainly helps. Their approach is very professional and the support cast helps them improve even as the event is going on.

In contrast, we have to do without any of the above advantages. So when we win, it really does feel good.

At the Commonwealth Games, Louise Minette of Britain, who finished third in the 10 metre Air Rifle Singles, seems to be an emerging talent and she should offer good competition at the next Games.

The 10 metre Air Rifle event is my favourite. Normally, I don't calculate my scores...there is not much to calculate [Anjali normally scores around 98 out of a possible 100]. But what happened this time, at Manchester, was that I recorded the maximum possible 100 in the first three rounds. That was when I realized that I might even equal the world record [400 points]. I kind of just went blank.

Your actions tend to become mechanical when you have been shooting over a stretch of two hours. At that very moment, as I lapsed in concentration, I raised my arm and squeezed the trigger and fired. Almost immediately, I realised I had missed. I won the gold but missed the World record [Anjali scored 398 points out of a possible 400].

Union Sports Minister Uma Bharti has been of great help since she has taken over the ministry. She has arranged to have better equipment imported from Germany/South Korea or wherever the best is available. If you don't know much about shooting, it can be a very boring sport to watch. But Uma Bharti sat behind me for two hours throughout the 50m Rifle 3 positions. Her presence there was a very encouraging factor.

There is no real co-ordination in the Pairs event. We just go out and give our best for the country. Suma Shirur [who incidentally looks up to Anjali as her mentor] is very talented. I want her to challenge me. A very important aspect often overlooked is the quality of local competition available. In China and South Korea the quality of local competition itself is so high that it is not a very big jump for them when they compete internationally.

Overall, the juniors, particularly Abhinav Bindra, are very good. We used to have a Hungarian coach, Laszlo Szucsak, and he has done a good job. The basics of these juniors are very good. That is why they have arrived with a bang. But Laszlo's departure [presently with the Japanese team] has left a void.

I am leaving for Germany to take part in the World Cup finals, where only the top ten-ranked shooters take part. I hope to do well there. [Presently Anjali is ranked number 1].

As for my goal... the gold at the Asian Games and nothing less!

Ace shooter Anjali Bhagwat spoke to Ashish Magotra

Design: Uday Kuckian