Last-minute changes help India shooters Jitu and Heena clinch first place in 10m air pistol final
Heena Sidhu and Jitu Rai gave India the perfect start as they combined to clinched the 10 metre air pistol mixed team event gold on the opening day of the ISSF World Cup Final here yesterday. Despite trailing by 2.5 points behind the leaders after the first three series, Jitu and Heena bagged the first place on the podium with a total of 483.4 points to clinch top place on the podium. France's Florian Fouquet and Celine Goberville finished second with 481.1 points. While Chinese pair of Yang Wei and Cai Xiaoxue won bonze with 418.2 points.
India shooter Jitu Rai (left) and Heena Sidhu pose with their gold medals after winning the mixed team 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup final at New Delhi yesterday. The duo shot 483.4 points to finish first on the podium. Pic/PTI
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Jitu's chance observation
Though the pair was billed as pre-tournament medal contender, things could have turned out differently, but for a chance observation by Jitu.During Monday's full dress rehearsal, where all team participated even as ISSF once again tweaked the format of this competition, Jitu was being put off as he could directly see Heena's shooting monitor. Jitu could see how Heena was scoring and as a result was feeling the pressure, which affected his focus.Yesterday, Jitu asked Heena to shade his monitor in such a way that he wouldn't be able to see it and would help him to concentrate on his shot.
"He said he felt the need to react after her shot. Say, if Heena shot a score of a nine, he would feel the need to compensate for that dip and go for a higher score. "Similarly, he would be under the pressure to match a high scoring shot from her," Ronak Pandit, who sat behind the pair as coach said. "So, to make him comfortable, we placed Heena's monitor in such a way where Jitu wouldn't be able to see her scores," he added. This wasn't a last minute adjustment. It was decided in advance that Heena was going to be the first shooter for India and hence will take the left shooting table, with Jitu on her right. As per the new rules, the second shooter can only raise the gun after his partner had finished shooting. Here the pair's shooting routines clashed a bit. Before drawing his gun, Jitu takes few seconds and stares blankly in front.
Heena unnerved
But Heena was getting unnerved as she could see her staring at her. So to ease her troubles, Jitu was told to stare at the floor before his shots."While looking at the target, I could see from the corner of my eyes Jitu staring at me. It felt strange. But we worked it out," Heena said.Similarly, they had to come up with hand signals to tell Jitu that it was his time to shoot. "Yes, I told her today about the monitor. I had to look at her body language to see whether she had finished her shot. But you could also guess from the sound of gun fire," Jitu said.The pair has tasted success in the same event previously too bagging gold in the World Cup Stage 1 in New Delhi in February. It was followed by gold in Gabala, Azerbaijan in June.
Adopting to routines
But the partnership is still a work-in-progress as they had to adapt to each other's shooting routine for this event. The next big tweak in the partnership has already been decided. In the next competition, Jitu will shoot first and Heena will have to adapt as the second shooter.
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