A gold for her dear father

The Kolhapur shooter recalled how at one point financial constrains forced her to consider giving up shooting, but the strong support of her family, especially her father, kept her going. “I dedicate this gold to my father,” Tejaswini told IANS from Munich.

Tejaswini’s father passed away on February 23 when she was competing at the Commonwealth Championships here. “I was shattered after hearing the news, but I could not leave the competition. I was part of the team and had I left, the team would not not have been able to participate,” she said.

“I owe it to him. On many occasions I told him that I will not go for the camps and tournaments, because it was getting difficult for my family to afford it. We have seen some bad days. But he would always tell me to continue shooting and somehow he would manage the finances,” said Tejaswini.

Tejaswini says she could have broken the world record but nerves got the better of her in the last shot.

“When I came to know that I would break the world record if I shot 100, I became nervous. And that affected my performance in the last series in which I sored 99.”