At 22 and only having participated in one senior World Cup prior to Tuesday, Sonam Maskar was green to the occasion. (Indian Shooting/X)
A packed Dr Karni Singh Shooting range, with the repeated booms of dhols and the jeering and whistling of the crowds at tense moments, can be intimidating. Add some of the best rifle shooters in the world, some of whom excelled at the Paris Olympics, and the challenge gets tougher.
At 22 and only having participated in one senior World Cup prior to Tuesday, Sonam Maskar was green to the occasion. To her left stood Germany’s Anna Jannsen, who just an hour earlier, had broken the Women’s qualification World Record. To her extreme right stood China’s Han Jiayu, a perennial champion in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle event, with World and Olympic medals to her name.
That Maskar won a silver medal, India’s only podium finish on the first day of the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, in such a situation – when the gold had to be a world record-breaking effort – is no mean feat. That too, with a perfect 10.9 shot when she needed it most.
“I felt nervous,” admitted Maskar. “But it felt really good to see the entire hall full and the people cheering for India.”
One look at the final line-up, and there was a solitary anomaly. Every shooter was leaning backwards, curving their back while cradling the butt of their rifle in front of their shoulder. Each of them had a wide stance with the right leg pointing outwards.
Not Maskar. The Kolhapur-born shooter had a far straighter stance, and less distance between the legs. She was also the only rifle shooter who chose to have her own water bottle on the table for the competition. Each shot in the high 10s was followed by a sip of water amid wild cheers echoing around the hall.
It has been just over three years since Maskar truly began training for the sport. In 2018, Maskar, then a part of Tolani College in Andheri (West) joined its shooting team. This meant she had to give up on her first-choice sport.
From chess to shooting
For all three of Uttam Maskar’s children, chess was the go-to game. They practised it through their junior years and wanted to continue with it. For Sonam, the move to shooting happened when her college had no chess club. She chose the rifle but had to pause due to her 12th standard exams. Then Covid happened followed by a move back to Kolhapur from Mumbai.
“We enrolled her at Vedh Shooting Academy in late 2021. From then till 2023, In May 2023, Olympics Gold Quest saw her at the Nationals and started to sponsor her. She joined the Sports Authority of India campus later that year,” Uttam Maskar told The Indian Express.
A silver medal at her debut ISSF World Cup in Cairo, followed by a near miss to make it to the Paris Olympics team, shows her rapid rise. To put it in context, her first-ever rifle was bought only in 2022.
But a clue to her steady improvement could possibly lie in her 19th and 20th elimination shots at the World Cup on Tuesday. Catching leader Huang Yuting was looking improbable but losing ground to Paris Olympics shooter Oceanne Mueller was a possibility. But Maskar shot a clutch 10.7 and 10.9 to cement her position.
Results:
Men’s 10m Air Rifle
Sheng Lihao (CHN) 251.4
Istavan Peni (HUN) 251.3
Jiri Privaratsky (CZE) 229.8
Women’s 10m Air Rifle
Huang Yuting (CHN) 254.5 (WR)
Sonam Maskar (IND) 252.9
Oceanne Muller (FRA) 231.1
Men’s 10m Air Pistol
Xie Yu (CHN) 244.6
Walter Robin (GER) 243.3
Nili Maldini (ITA) 221.7
Women’s 10m Air Pistol
Camille Jedrzejewski (FRA) 240.8
Liu Yu (TPE) 237.4
Hala Elgohari (EGY) 215.7
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