In an eight-shooter final featuring pedigreed competitors, 19-year-old Suruchi Phogat clinched her first ISSF World Cup gold medal in women’s 10m Air Pistol at Buenos Aires, Argentina on Tuesday.
The field included three Chinese shooters – including Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist and mixed team gold medallist Jiang Ranxin – and Korean Choo Gaeun, the Haryana shooter emerged champion by a margin of 2.7 points over Chinese Qian Wei in the gold medal elimination round.
“I didn’t know about Ranxin being an Olympic medallist. Whenever I shoot, my competition is with myself and to execute what I did in training,” Phogat told The Indian Express.
It turned out to be a day of double delight for India as Vijayveer Sidhu won his second ISSF World Cup medal – this time a gold – in the men’s 25m Rapid Fire event. The 22-year-old shooter from Punjab edged out Italian Riccardo Mazzetti in the final 29-28.
FILE: Indian shooter Vijayveer Sidhu (L) in action. (PHOTO: Vijayveer Sidhu)
The Indian had earlier won a silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in Delhi in 2021. He had also won a bronze in 25m Standard Pistol at the World Championships in Cairo in 2022.
Dominant performance
On Tuesday, Suruchi topped the qualification with a score of 583, including 16 inner 10s. Bhaker, along with Paris Olympics 25m bronze medallist Hungary’s Veronika Major and Paris Olympics mixed team champion Zorana Arunovic of Serbia missed the final. Apart from Ranxin, reigning 25m world champion Doreen Vennekamp of Germany also featured in the final.
Suruchi’s first series saw her placed fourth with a score of 49.9 but the Indian would shoot a second series score of 51.0, including an 8.9, to be in fourth place with Wei being the leader with 102.9 followed by Korean Choo Gaeun with 101.1 and Ranxin at 101.0. The elimination series saw Suruchi shooting four scores of 10.7 or better with only two shots below 10, always being in the top three.
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While Ranxin would finish third, Suruchi led Qian by 1.2 before the gold medal elimination round. A 10.8 and 10.0 by the Indian with Qian shooting a 9.6 and 9.7 would settle matters.
Changing sports
Wrestling’s loss has turned into shooting’s gain. In 2017, Suruchi was enrolled in wrestling by her father Inder Singh Phogat, a 19 Punjab Regiment havildar, at their village Sisroli in Jhajjar district, but a collarbone fracture three months later forced her to give up the sport.
The family would prepare makeshift targets with wooden blocks at home, and also get Suruchi a new pistol costing Rs 1,60,000.
“When Suruchi was born, I and my wife had decided to make her a sportsperson. After her fracture, she changed her sport. Since she liked all sports, it helped her focus,” remembers her father.
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Indian shooter Suruchi Phogat with her coach Om Prakash. (Special Arrangement)
It was in 2019 that Suruchi was enrolled at the academy of Suresh Singh, a former coach of Paris Olympics double medallist Manu Bhaker, at the Guru Dronacharya Shooting Academy in Bhiwani, more than 60 km from her home.
Singh was impressed by Suruchi’s natural shooting position. With Phogat Sr, an anti-militant operations specialist, spending time on his daughter’s technique, Singh recalls getting an almost technical shooter in the form of Suruchi from the start.
“It was a natural shooting position, without any extra stretch or load on a single muscle in the body. We worked on her wrist and follow-through, as well as the time she took to shoot during qualification,” the coach recalls.
Suruchi pipped Asian Games gold medallist Palak Gulia at the National Games earlier this year. She followed that with a fine performance in the national trials to seal her spot in the national team. “I got her a second pistol last year at a cost of Rs 1,80,000. While some money came from my savings, a lot of friends and relatives at the village helped us too,” says her father.
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“Coming here, Suruchi shot close to 588-589 in training in qualification format and she had the belief to win the gold. It helps that she does not know about the Chinese or Koreans or does not consider them better than herself,” says national coach Om Prakash.
Coach Singh too followed the final and shared his observations. “In the first series, she took some time and the last shot off the second series happened as she rushed in that shot. Except that, it went as she had planned.
Post the World Cups, the BA-I student at Government College, Birohar would once again return to her books. “I don’t watch TV nor do I watch movies or listen to songs. My study books are the only thing I would like to spend time on,” said Suruchi.
