Queens of Gun – Part 2
They Rule With Steady Hands
In the year 2018, shooting went through a huge change when ISSF decided to make the number of shots fired during a match equal for both men and women. Meaning that the number of shots fired by women increased from 40 to 60, just the same as men. It has been a long journey for Women in India, and so many of the contributors that have helped make India a recognized name in shooting have been and continue to be women.
Over the years India has produced the youngest and oldest shooters in the world, so it isn’t shocking that in the 21st-century women have aced in shooting as well. Today we see a lot of women taking up shooting as a sport and bringing home laurels for the country.
There is always a 1st who motivates the next 100 to do something. Every year during the National Shooting Championship new shooters in the country come to watch their favorite shooters play. Just watching our seniors, who have played international matches, helps us learn a lot starting from their calmness during matches to how they perform under final’s pressure.
I personally, being a pistol shooter, went to see Heena Sindhu’s match. I remember how she hit a 7 right at the start of the match but then took a break and relaxed. After that, she was bang on and didn’t let that one shot affect the entirety of her match. That day I learned that a single shot doesn’t decide the outcome of your match, but the way you react to a single shot does.
Shooters look up to their seniors and are inspired by them and this is why we at Aim Down Sight thought of taking you through a journey. A special journey through the accomplishments of those Women Shooters who are the architects of shooting in the country.
The journey of Women Shooting in India internationally began in the year 2000 when Anjali Bhagwat, the Indian women 10M Air Rifle shooter who never missed the target, represented our country in the Sydney Olympic. She was the first Indian Shooter to reach the Olympic Finals and the first Indian Shooter to be ranked number 1 in the world. In the year 2002, she became the first Indian to win a Gold medal at the ISSF world cup in the mixed air rifle category.
At the start of the century, India did not have the proper experience or resources that other western countries had but that didn’t stop Anjali and with her determination and will power flew high in the Olympics. She qualified for the COC(Champion of Champions) when finals weren’t a part of the Indian Shooting system.
She once said, “Only those who handle the pressure well and can command their minds will make their talent count.” and she is currently coaching young shooters to do the same. She has even hosted the Commonwealth Games of 2010 along with cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar. This veteran shooter has been dedicated to the country as she has also been teaching blind students for a very long time.
Suma Shirur who is currently the high-performance coach for the Junior Rifle Team is also another legend in the shooting world. In the 2004 Asian Shooting Championships in Kuala Lumpur, she became the first Indian 10M Air Rifle shooter to score a maximum of 400 points in qualification to become a joint world record holder at the event.
In 2006 she opened the Lakshya Shooting Club at Panvel, where the Khelo India shooting academy is based. For two decades she has been contributing to the sport and is still dedicated towards steering young shooters towards the right direction.
The journey of women shooting in the country bloomed but it was not easy for Indian women to make a place for themselves in a male-dominated sport. Shagun Chowdhary from Bikaner, Rajasthan was introduced to clay pigeon shooting when she was just 3 years old.
Inspired and supported by her father who used to shoot with Maharaja Karni Singh she took up shooting and played her first match in 2001. But it was not easy for her because of the cliché conception about “ women shooting for fun”. There was always a difference between the treatment given to her and her fellow male shooters.
In her career when the Squad used to get full, she was asked to step down so that a male shooter could take her place, as their training was more important. In 2012 after 10 years, when she participated in the London Summer Olympics and became the first Indian woman to qualify for a trap shooting event she was given the same recognition and respect as other male shooters and was treated as an equal.
It was her courage and determination to take flight even when many did not want her to fly high, which took her to levels where even her male counterparts could not reach. In the lockdown, she started an organic farming venture as an initiative to help generate employment for women and make them financially independent in her family-owned citrus orchards in Rajasthan.
Heena Sindhu was a game-changer for 10M Air Pistol shooting in India when she became the first-ever Pistol Shooter to reach the number 1 rank in ISSF. She was also the first to win gold at the ISSF finals in 10M Air Pistol shooting in 2013. This grand achievement, along with others, procured her the Arjuna Award in 2014.
Being in the Senior Category she has inspired many Junior Shooters to take up shooting and is a role model for Pistol shooters. She was part of the official 2012 London Olympics Games Film Titled First- “The Story of the London 2012 Olympics”. She even set a strong example for all the women out there by refusing to travel to Tehran for the Asian Air Gun Championships in 2014 and 2016 because Iran had made wearing the hijab mandatory for women participants.
These women have set the bars so high not just domestically but internationally as well. Today Shooting is a recognized sport in the country and it wouldn’t have reached these heights without these empowering women. They came out of their comfort zones, beat society’s orthodox ideology and it is because of them that women in shooting are now given the same respect and recognition as their male counterparts.
These women have proved that sports have nothing to with gender, but a person’s own unique capability. If you liked our article please show us and these women some love down below in our comments and read our article “Queens of Gun – Part 1” for another dose of inspiration.