Rahi Sarnobat
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Rahi Sarnobat
2013: gold at ISSF World Cup
Rahi Sarnobat shot her way into history in April 2013 by becoming India’s first pistol shooter to win gold in a World Cup. The 22-year-old from Kolhapur won the 25m sports pistol event in the ISSF World Cup in Changwon (South Korea).
While six Indians had won gold in a World Cup before Rahi, three had done so in rifle shooting and three in shotgun.She is the first to win a pistol event.
Rahi scored 585 points (292 precision + 293 rapid-fire) in the qualification stage for the semifinal berth. She qualified at No. 4 among eight shooters for the knockouts, according to the new ISSF format.
Rahi raised her game in the first phase of the knockout. She scored 15 inner 10s and entered the final on the basis of finishing in the top two of the eight-player field.
Rahi Sarnobat created history on Friday, winning the 25m sports pistol gold in the World Cup in Changwon. Rahi held her nerve to edge past local favourite Kyeongae Kim in the final.
The Korean finished on top of the eight-player field, shooting 16 inner 10s. But she was out-shot by Rahi in the final, contested over seven series of five shots each.
Rahi pipped Kim to the post with three wins, two defeats and two draws in the series. Rahi had 20 inner 10s in the final. After five rounds, Rahi was trailing 1-2 (with two draws). But she kept her cool in the rapid fire and clinched the sixth and seventh series 3-1 and 2-1 (inner 10 scores) respectively.
The shooter, who is supported by Lakshya and trains at Gun For Glory (GFG) academy in Pune, said she had worked hard on improving her precision before the World Cup. “I was good in rapid fire but my precision was the weak link,” she told TOI. “In the last two months, I worked on my weakness and aimed at taking my precision score to 292-293, which I did here. Once I reached a total of 585, I was confident of doing well in the knockouts.”
When asked about the changes in her game after the London Olympics, where she finished a disappointing 19th, she said, “As soon as I came back from London, I changed my grip and worked on my fitness. That worked.”
Unlike other shooters, Rahi didn’t train at the Delhi camp. She preferred to train with GFG’s Ukrainian coach Anatoli Poddubny. “I am more comfortable training with him as he takes care of my problems,” said Rahi.
Piddubny paid a glowing compliment to Rahi: “Rahi, you are not only a very clever girl… today you are also the best ‘Marathi’ warrior!! GO AHEAD……”
2014: gold at CWG
India's Rahi Sarnobat won gold and Anisa Sayeed got silver in the Women's 25m Pistol event in July 2014.
Previous World Cup gold winners from India
Rifle
Anjali Bhagwat
Gagan Narang
Sanjeev Rajput
Shotgun
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
Ronjan Sodhi
Manavjit Singh Sandhu
RAHI FACT FILE
Year of birth: 1990
Place of birth: Kolhapur
Started competing at top level: 2008
Achievements
Gold: 2010 CWG (in pairs)
Silver: 2010 CWG (in singles)
Bronze: 2011 ISSF World Cup, Fort Benning
