PUNE: Just before the women’s 10m air rifle final began, Nancy, 19, asked her coach Suma Shirur, “Chinese kitne hain, ma’am?” (How many Chinese are there in the final?).
Suma said ‘three’. Nancy, 19, shooting in her first World Cup final, pushed the two, while giving a scare to the third on her way to win silver. Nancy scored 253.3 to finish second behind China’s Jiayo Han, who shot 254 in the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Friday.
The bronze went to China’s Yuting Huang who shot 232.5. It was Nancy’s first senior medal at the international stage.
Haryana girl Nancy was placed fourth till the tenth shot. But she fired a series of high 10s to come up to third and then second position. Nancy’s average shot in the 24 shots was 10.55, as she hit 10.8 on five occasions. Her lowest in the phase was 10.2. The gold medallist Jiayo’s average shot was 10.58 in the final.
Before the last two shots, Nancy leapt to the top position and had a chance to win gold. After 22 shots, she was on 232.8 and Jiayo 232.7. But the Indian shot 10.3 and 10.2 whereas the Chinese held the nerve better and shot 10.7 and 10.6 to close out the match.
“I was a little nervous in the end, when I was shooting for the gold match,” Nancy told TOI after the final.
Earlier in the day, it was a similar story in the men’s final. Hriday Hazarika, 21, too had to fight strong Chinese opponents. The Assam boy edged out Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Sheng Lihao and bronze medallist Yang Haoran. The silver was his first senior World Cup medal too.
Hriday. the 2018 junior World Champion, shot 251.9 and lost the gold by just half a point to Hungary’s Pekler Zalan, who scored 252.4.
India’s Hriday and Nancy displaying top-grade shooting was a common factor in both the finals, besides the excellence from the Chinese shooters.
Hriday shot consistently well to stay on the second position. But but was constantly nudged by Lihao. The Chinese also took the second spot for a brief period (19-20 shots), however, Hriday shot 10.2 and 10.4 in the next two shots to reclaim the second position and push Lihao for third place elimination.
He however couldn’t reduce the gap between him and Zalan in the end.
Hriday had entered the final after shooting a decent 630.3, however, it looked small as Zalan qualified second after shooting 636.2, while Lihao shot world recod score of 637.9 (an average of 10.63 per shot).
“To be honest, I was a little tense about Lihao and Zalan, who had come after shooting great qualification scores. But I tried to calm myself and told myself that the final will start from zero and I had a chance to win,” Hriday said.
Rifle coach Suma said both the shooters displayed immense grit and nerve. “They both overcame their fears and were calm during pressure situations. Their consistency won them the medals. I feel the way Nancy fought the Chinese, her medal is not short of the gold for me,” she said.
Fighting battle off the field
It was a tough phase for Hriday after winning the 2018 Junior World title. “I got injured (muscle tear in right leg) during the first Covid lockdown in 2020. I couldn’t get access to any specialist and it worsened. By the time I came back to shooting, I lost the window to be part of the Tokyo Olympics,” he said. “I have been in and out of the national team in the last two years. But I am happy that I am shooting well again.”
Nancy, who hails from Kurukshetra in Haryana, had to go through financial troubles when she started shooting five years ago.
Nancy’s father, Azad Singh, told TOI: “I am a humble and have four kids. I had to mortgage gold ornaments and a part of our land to support Nancy’s shooting. I am still repaying the loan but I am happy that she has finally won a World Cup medal today. I am certain that her efforts and our faith won’t go waste.”
