After winning first National gold at 16,shooting star Malaika is the latest buzz

She had already won medals at junior international meets,with her latest being the junior gold at the Asian Air Gun Championships in Tehran last month. But the National gold was her biggest achievement. Both are equally important. I beat big names herebut I worked equally hard for that medal, she says.

Her love for the pistol sport began when she saw a cutout report of her senior from Alpine School,Ludhiana,Purnoor Kaur,winning a district medal.

I had to take her to Purnoors house four or five years ago where she got to know the sport. Now she regularly trains at the Ludhiana range in the morning while training at home with coach Gurjeet Singh in the evening, says her mother Amarpreet Goel.

Her mental strength and her ability to remain calm under pressure is what is creating buzz at the shooting ranges,reminiscent of when Jaspal Rana emerged. Malaika almost ran down the clock for her final shot in Tehran to win gold.

Some though say Malaikas real test is yet to come. Sooner or later she will have to deal with failures. If she comes out fighting,she will truly become a great as age is on her side. The key would be how she handles a drop in form, said Syed Wajid Ali,coach with the senior team.

Anisa leads

World cup gold medallist Heena Sidhu was in third position in the precision round of 25 meter women pistol event,which was topped by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anisa Sayyed at the 57th National Shooting Championship. Sayyed of Haryana was leading with a good score of 289 points,followed by Sonia Rai (287) of Himachal Pradesh,while Heena of Punjab was third with a score of 286. Rahi Sarnobat of Maharashtra and Anita Devi of Haryana shot scores of 286 to be tied fourth. (PTI)