3 min readPanchkulaSep 1, 2019 11:28 AM IST
First published on: Sep 1, 2019 at 11:28 AM IST
Yashaswini bags India’s ninth Olympic quota. (Source: NRAI)
Panchkula shooter Yashaswini Singh Deswal, 22, bagged the ninth Olympic quota for India and became the world champion in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event in the ISSF World Cup being held at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in the wee hours of Sunday.
In the final, Deswal edged out world number one and 2004 Athens Olympic champion and 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Olena Kostevych of Ukraine to win the gold medal with a total of 236.7 points with Kostevych shooting 234.8 to claim the silver. Deswal, whose father IPS S S Deswal is DG, ITBP, Delhi and mother Saroj Deswal is Chief Income Tax Commissioner, Panchkula, is a student of DAV College, Chandigarh and as she won the gold medal, father SS Deswal was ecstatic.
“Yashaswini started shooting in 2012 as she was inspired by 2010 Commonwealth Games in India and wanted to win a medal for India one day. She has made the whole country proud… to win an Olympic quota with the gold medal in the ISSF World Cup is a special feeling for the whole family and India. Her gold medal is for the whole country. Yashaswini is always adamant that her mother travels with her during competitions. I am sure both of the them will celebrate the win in Rio today and the whole family will celebrate when she returns,” Deswal told Chandigarh Newsline.
Yashaswini started shooting in the 2012 and won her first gold medal in School Nationals in Pune in 2012.
In 2014, she qualified for Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China and finished a credible sixth. Yashaswini then won the silver medal in the youth category in Asian Championships in Kuwait and also won the team bronze medal in the Junior World Cup held at Suhl, Germany. She won the team gold medal along with Heena Sidhu and Shweta Gwande in the Asian Airgun Championship in Delhi in 2015. In 2015, she became the junior national champion in the event. The youngster had also won the gold medal in the South Asian Games in Guwahati in 2016. In 2017, Yashaswini had won the 10m Air Pistol gold medal – equaling the junior world record score of 235.9 – in the final of the ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl, Germany.In May 2017, she won the bronze medal in the 10m Air Pistol event in Plezen, Czech Republic. The youngster has been training under Tejinder Singh Dhillon and the coach was following the final.
“It’s the hard work of Yashaswini which has paid today. When she started shooting under me in 2012, she would dream about winning medals for India and winning the junior world cup gold in 2017 was a special moment for her. But today’s performance has surpassed all her past performances… She needs to maintain her consistency to secure her berth in the Indian team for Olympics and once she returns, we will work more towards this goal,” Dhillon said.
Yashaswini bags India’s ninth Olympic quota. (Source: NRAI)
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