Anish Bhanwala inspired me during World Championship: Mehuli Ghosh

Kolkata, July 3: Mehuli Ghosh, one of the country's most promising female rifle shooter in 10-meter air rifle, did not have a memorable debut in the recently concluded Junior World Championship, held in Germany.

Indian creates record at Junior Shooting World Championship

She failed to qualify for the title round, finishing at the 17th position. Still, asked about her experience in her maiden World Championship, Mehuli expressed a lot of satisfaction.

On Sunday evening, Mehuli defeated junior India number two rifle shooter Manini Koushik in a specially organised 'duel' encounter in the 4th edition of state school rifle shooting championship in Kolkata.

Out of the 17 matches in total, Mehuli won the 'duel' 12-7. It was the first time West Bengal Rifle Shooting Association (WBRSA) organised such a 'duel' only between the two prominent stars. The idea was conceptualised by Mehuli's Olympian coach Joydeep Karmakar.

Mehuli, after having won the match said: “Participating in a preparatory championship in the Czech Republic just before the World Championship was my first foreign tour.

"I finished at the seventh position there out of 123 competitors. Naturally, expectations might have been created. But in the World Championship I found it much difficult.

"The standard of the game of the top eight shooters was higher than my performance."

Mehuli revealed her observation saying, “Basically, the focus and homework before entering into the match arena made the difference. I must have to sit with my coach and work out on these points."

Along with her observation Mehuli also did not forget to disclose her gain from the tournament. The first gain was some inspired words from Virginia Thrasher, the gold medalist USA female shooter in 10 meter in the Rio Olympics.

The second thing Mehuli achieved was the tremendous confidence she saw from his teammate Anish Bhanwala who created history by winning gold medal in the 25 meter pistol shooting.

Mehuli said: “Virginia patted on my back and asked me to give more timing to training. And Anish confidently uttered before starting in his title round match that he must shoot the best score. After he did that I was not only inspired, but also amazed with his confidence."

OneIndia News