Despite being away from the sport for some time, Tejaswini Sawant produced a brilliant performance at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games. The ace shooter though feels it was not a comeback but a continuation of her journey.
Tejaswini shattered the Games record in the women's 50M rifle 3 position event on her way to the gold medal and also bagged a silver in the women's 50M rifle prone event at the CWG.
"Actually, yes for others, who don't know about me, it is a comeback for them. But I feel that my journey continued. I had taken a two-month break. I had taken a break due to family issues during the 2014 Commonwealth Games and other international tournaments and because of that gap, performance was not (good) so I could not get selected for those Games. So, that year (2014) went in slack," Tejaswini told PTI.
A gold medallist at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 10M air rifle singles and pairs with Avneet Kaur Sidhu, Tejaswini is also the first Indian to clinch a World Championship gold, in 2010.
When Delhi hosted the Commonwealth Games eight years ago, the shooter won silver in 50M rifle prone singles and bronze in 50M rifle prone pairs along with Meena Kumari. She also bagged silver in 50M rifle 3 positions event along with Lajjakumari Goswami.
According to Tejaswini, CWG and the upcoming Asian Games are important steps ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, for which she hopes to qualify.
"My shooting journey is on and it will continue till I have interest. And a big part of it is the 2020 Olympics. And for that big competition, these are small steps and Asian Games is one of that. Commonwealth Games was one such (step) and it went (well).
"The way me and my coach Kuheli Ganguly, had planned it went well, one step went well and (Asian Games) will be the second step," she added.
Her focus would be to improve her performance and grow as a shooter, Tejaswani said.
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