Pooja Ghatkar might not have been a member of India's Rio Olympics shooting squad last year, but she proved her class in the ongoing ISSF Shooting World Cup. The Indian woman brought glory to the nation, winning bronze in the 10m air rifle event on Friday.
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There was an element of calm and confidence in her performance among a group of some top shooters, competing in New Delhi. She was unfazed by other stars as she scored 228.8 to win a bronze. Despite a close battle for the gold medal between China's Mengyao Shi and Dong Lijie, it was the former, who clinched first place with 252.1.
Pooja was the only the Indian in the fray for the air rifle event final. Vinita Bhardwaj and Megha Sajjanar also took part in the event, but both the women failed to shine. They could not even reach the final with Vinita finishing 16th, while Meghna ended in the 20th position. Pooja saved the day for India in the event with a great performance.
Pooja has been a part of the Indian shooting circuit for some time now as she also won Asian Air Gun Championship in 2014, defeating some world champions en route to the gold medal then.
India have been provided a great start in the ISSF World Cup. This should give other Indian shooters, who were below par in Rio Olympics, confidence to strive for some more medals in the competition.
