Samra who is 23 has to overcome many challenges to get the medal in the ISSF World Cup that was organized in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The major challenge was the changes made in the kneeling time, which was reduced from two minutes to 30 seconds. The weather conditions too were against Sift but she fought her battle to win her first gold in the championship making it a record for her.
The shooter was initially the last in the line during the kneeling series but overcame her competition Anita Mangold from Germany by scoring 458.6 points, a three-point lead against her opponent in the standing position. Her courage and patience are remarkable as she did not panic and turned the tide in her favour.
Deepali Deshpande who coached the 23-year-old from Faridkot said in an interview that she was proud to see her comeback after facing a drawback in the kneeling round. While it is ironic that she performed the best in the kneeling round during qualifications, it was her persistent zeal to win that made her so calm during the turmoil in the phase.
Deshpande said, “The conditions during the qualification were cold and windy. The final happened half an hour after qualification, it took some time for her to adjust,”
Thomas Farnik, who is the foreign coach of the Indian team also remarked on the amazing comeback of the shooter. He also accepted the difficult weather which led to the initial hurdle for her, “She shot her shots very quickly both in kneeling and prone which gave her ample time to shoot with ease in standing. She had more than 20 minutes to shoot the last six standing series shots and that would have settled things for her.”
Samra’s victory helped improve India’s position in the tally to the second position with a gold and a bronze medal, while China maintained the lead with one gold and one silver.
She qualified at the first spot with a score of 590, defeating her competitors including former champions like Chiara Leone and Nina Christen from Switzerland. The final round of the upcoming 25 targets and both categories’ skeet events is scheduled for the upcoming Saturday.
