Tracking a ‘shooting star’

“I would stay up all night,and watch all the events,” he recalls. “That’s how I got hooked to shooting.”

Muley remained a devoted spectator of the sport,and in due course a fan of pistol shooter Jaspal Rana. He decided to give his daughter a first-hand taste of the game and took her to the Aurangabad District Rifle Association in 2005,when she was 13.

“I attended an eight-day basic course there,” says Tejaswini. “At the end of the course,they held a match in which I won silver. That is when I decided to pursue it seriously.”

Today,Tejaswini is one of India’s most promising young shooters. Last month,she returned from the International Junior Shooting Competition in Suhl,Germany,with two medals — silver in the 50m prone and bronze in the 50m 3-position. Meanwhile,in air rifle,she shot a remarkable 399 out of 400 in the qualifying round – one shot off the world record.

“I messed up in the finals,and came fourth,” says Tejaswini. “After getting 399 in qualifying,I put too much pressure on myself. I only had a 15-minute gap before the final,so I wasn’t mentally prepared.” Regardless,having returned with two medals,Suhl was a confidence booster for Tejaswini.

“I will turn 20 in November,so this was my last junior competition. I went there telling myself that I had to win a medal,” she says. “And even the conditions there were perfect. Normally,it gets very cold there,but this time it was nice and pleasant.”

Since 2008 when a bronze at the Commonwealth Youth Games helped her gain a Krida Prabodhini scholarship Tejaswini has been training in Pune. And since last year,she has been honing her shooting at the Gun for Glory academy,under coaches Lurii Mikhalkin,Sanjoy Chakrawarty (50m) and Suma Shirur (10m).

Russian coach Mikhalkin,she says,has had a major effect on her mentality.

She says,“He has created a great unity among the juniors,and his attitude is always ‘why not?’”

“Generally,Indian shooters tend to let negative thoughts creep in,and start wondering what can go wrong. But Mikhalkin Sir always tells us,there’s no reason why we can’t win medals,and there is nothing to stop us.”

At Gun for Glory,Tejaswini’s day begins at 8 am. “From 8 am to around 12.30,I have a practice session,and then another from 3 to 6 in the evening,” she says. “After that,I do some physical work – either gym or the running track or swimming. We don’t really need that much physical exercise as shooters,but things like swimming helps build our stamina.” To an outsider,a shooter’s practice session may look like mere repetition,but Tejaswini says there’s a lot of variety in how she trains. “Every day,the objective is to work on something new,” she says. “Today,for instance,I was working on how to control my breathing.”

All this endless attention to detail,she says,is aimed at bettering her consistency. “In Germany,I shot 399 (10m air rifle) and 586 (50m 3-position),but getting those scores once is not enough. The difficult part is in maintaining these scores,” she says. “If I do that,I can clinch a quota place for the next World Championships. That is my immediate aim. But everything I’m doing now is aimed ultimately towards the 2016 Olympics,” she signs off.