This Article is From Oct 13, 2010

I did not get enough time to train: Tejaswini

I did not get enough time to train: Tejaswini
New Delhi: Having failed to win a gold at the Commonwealth Games, world champion Tejaswini Sawant said she did not get enough time to prepare for the mega-event.

In Delhi 2010 Games, Tejaswini bagged two silver medals (50m rifle prone singles and 50m rifle 3 positions pairs) and one bronze medal in the 50m rifle prone pair event as she missed out on the top spot by one point.

"Since the competition was taking place in India there was certainly more pressure but that was not so difficult to handle. I am used to this. The main problem was I did not get sufficient time to train before the Commonwealth Games," said the Kolhapur girl.

The first Indian woman to win a World Championship, Tejaswini, however blamed it on herself for not having planned the schedule in a better way.

"I was busy playing a number of events and hence was left with a little time to practice for the Games. It was completely my fault," the shooter admitted.

In the previous edition of the Games, Tejaswini won gold medals in 10m air rifle singles and 10m air rifle pairs along with Avneet Kaur Sidhu.

"I tried to give my best but failed. Now I would try to do well in the upcoming Asian Games," the 29-year-old added. Even her coach Kuheli Gangulee admitted that their planning and strategy went wrong.

"A player never fails. It is the planning and the strategy that fails. Shooting always works on the formula of trail and error. There has been some mistakes on our part for sure. And now after the event is over, we will have to sit down and Analise it," said Gangulee.

Tejaswini also spoke on how shooting had improved in India overs the years.

"After the Olympic success of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Abhinav Bindra, things are beginning to look good in shooting. Now, we have all the facilities.

We also have at least two ranges -- Delhi and Pune -- of international standard. Even the Hyderabad range is very good. Moreover, now we all travel by flights," she said.

"It is just up to the individuals now to plan their own events and schedule better, so that they can draw maximum benefits out of it," Tejaswini said.

Asked whether shooting was too expensive to afford, Tejaswini said, "The association is helping us in more than one way. We only face problem in procuring weapons which are not so easily available due to security issues.

"But there was a time when we had nothing but still we did well... Now we are getting facilities I think we should not be complaining," she said.
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