Bengaluru, June 23: India's shooting fraternity, including Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra mourned the untimely death of former national shooter-cum-coach Pournima Zanane.
An International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF)-licenced coach, Zanane had been suffering from cancer for the past two years and also underwent extensive treatment for the same.
The 42-year-old had represented the country at multiple ISSF World Cups, Asian Championships, Commonwealth Championships, among others.
Zanane, who was a national record holder in 10M air rifle event, took to coaching after her playing career ended and was honoured with the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports award by the Maharashtra government
The shooter, who was diagnosed with cancer during the Nationals in Kerala two years ago, started her career in Mumbai before shifting base to Pune. She was born in Nanded.
2008 Beijing Games gold medallist Bindra said the shooter will be greatly missed
"RIP Pournima. You will be greatly missed," Bindra said.
Olympian Joydeep Karmakar too expressed his grief.
"Deeply shocked and distressed by the news of untimely demise of an old friend Pournima Zanane. Our friendship goes back to Junior team days... But we will meet someday, somewhere again Smiling face with smiling eyes," Olympian Joydeep tweeted.
Deeply shocked and distressed by the news of untimely demise of an old friend Pournima Zanane. She was an international shooter and ISSF coach. Our friendship goes back to Junior team days.. But we will meet someday, somewhere again 😊 pic.twitter.com/nRRNLZsRny
— Joydeep Karmakar OLY (@Joydeep709) June 21, 2020
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) sent out a condolence message after she succumbed to the dreaded disease.
"The National Rifle Association of India condoles the untimely sad demise of our international shooter and a coach - Ms Pournima Chinmoy Zanane, at a very young age
"Ms Pournima Zanane was an Air Rifle shooter and took part in many international competitions as Pournima Gawahne. At a later stage, she started coaching shooters and also coached the Sri Lankan team," the sport's apex body in the country said in a statement.
(With PTI inputs)