CHENNAI: Mehuli Ghosh is one of the established shooters from India who has been in the business at the elite level for the last seven years or so. She has habitually captured medals across competitions (World Championships, World Cups, Asian Championships, to name a few) to be one of the best in her discipline — the women's 10m air rifle.
Now, she'll be looking to expand her horizons and master yet another category — women's 50m rifle 3 positions — at the global level. It's not like she is a stranger to the 50m rifle 3p as Mehuli had been experimenting with it every now and then behind the scenes. In this Olympic cycle which commenced late last year, she had been putting her idea into practice. She began her fresh venture during the national championships and barely eight months later, she is geared up to compete for medals in the said discipline at the world level — her first in her career.
She's one of the three Indians who'll be featuring in the women's 50m rifle 3p individual discipline at the ISSF World Cup in Ningbo, China. The matches in the premier event will begin on Tuesday and will go on until Sunday. The 24-member Indian team comprises shooters ranked between No 4 and No 6 (national rankings). This is part of policy of National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to offer the top-ranked shooters a fair shot at the highest level.
Even taking into consideration her nous at her pet discipline (10m air rifle), her elevation at the 50m discipline is noteworthy. After a decent start at the aforementioned nationals, she gradually started putting up improved scores before returning with an eye-catching 593 during Trial 4. For context, Sift Kaur Samra, who's the No 1 in India, shot 589 in the recent Asian Championships to top the qualification stage. The World Record mark is 596 (shared by four shooters).
To get well-versed with the demands of the 50m discipline, she has been meticulously working with Dronacharya Award winner Deepali Deshpande since the turn of the year. Deepali, who's the head coach of the Indian rifle national team, is someone who has had a hand in the rise of many shooters from this particular discipline. Paris Olympics bronze medallist Swapnil Kusale, who will also be part of the Ningbo event, Sift Kaur Samra, Anjum Moudgil, Akhil Sheoran are some of the elite shooters who have thrived under her mentorship. "At the core, she is a brilliant shooter. She needed some technical help. She hit some eye-catching scores in the national trials," Deepali said.
Technically, this is the second time Mehuli will be shooting in the 50m discipline at the international stage as she had taken part in the recent Asian Championships in Shymkent. In challenging conditions, she had returned with a modest 577 to finish 23rd out of 41 shooters but that was part of the build-up for the upcoming event. She was competing for ranking points and was not competing for the medals. "That was interesting. It was some learning for her. She got an idea on things that she needs to work on in order to be competitive," Deepali had noted soon after her match.
This is the last event for Indians before the World Championships, which is scheduled to be held later this year. Mehuli, on her part, will be hoping to leave a strong first impression.