Incheon: For shooter Shweta Chaudhry, her bronze in 10m air rifle is worthier than gold. She still remembers her first day at the range. She literally shot on her foot. “I shot myself on the right foot,” she recollects gleefully.
The scar reminds her of the initiation into this sport of guns and bullets. Scared, she stopped going to the range for a while. But her father Ramesh being a shooting enthusiast, it did not take too long for her to return to the ranges.
Now, she could look back on her folly. “I don’t know what would have happened had I not gone back,” she says with a smile. “I didn’t know about the safety-catch and seeing the blood, I was scared. I was in class six.”
Chaudhry’s gun was stuck in the customs here. She did not know what to do. Every day, since reaching here on Thursday, she had been in touch with the customs. But the gun number the NRAI was supposed to send, which is required to release the weapon, had not reached them. Resigned to her fate, she was forced to use her spare weapon. “I always keep one that has all the papers,” she said. Despite the odds, she managed her biggest achievement in the international arena.
Coming from an affluent family in Faridabad, she did not face much difficulty in the financially-demanding sport. She was forced to miss a lot of classes, but it seldom affected her academics. “On the contrary, it was very difficult for me to concentrate on my game after studies. I used to be a good student and the sport helped me to concentrate on my studies. But after my classes got over, there were too many distractions.”
At this hour of joy, she misses her family. Taking inspiration from sportspersons like Mary Kom and Sarita Devi, who remain months away from the family due to sporting commitments, Chaudhry stays away from her husband. “They really motivate me to stay away from my family and husband. Whenever I miss home, I think about them. If they can stay from their kids, why can’t I?”
But the journey to bronze was not smooth. A shoulder injury made her struggle this year, forcing to miss the Commonwealth Games. “I was shattered. But my husband and parents kept motivating me and because of our selection policy, I got a second chance,” she says.
But Chaudhry felt the team’s training policy should change a bit so that shooters like her can benefit practising against world-class shooters. “Nowadays, most of the shooters train close to their home. So, we don’t get to train with them. It really helps if we can do that because it helps us improve our game and stay motivated,” she says. “I hope this happens.”
Even Chaudhry needed a visa for Incheon. Hoping this would spark a new dawn in her shooting career, she says, “I just hope this bronze will turn to gold some time.”