Anjali Bhagwat (born 5 December 1969) is a professional Indian sport shooter. She became the World Number One in

10m Air Rifle 10 metre air rifle (N.B. For "Meter" in this article – read "Metre") is an ISSF shooting events, International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) shooting event, bullseye shooting, shot at a bullseye target over a distance of using a .177 calibe ...

in 2002. She also won her first World Cup Final in Milan, in 2003, with a score of 399/400. Anjali won the ISSF Champion of Champions award and is the only Indian to win the ISSF Champions' Trophy in

Air Rifle An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized ''without'' involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm, which pressurizes gases ''chem ...

Men & Women mixed event at Munich in 2002. She has represented India in three consecutive

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, and was a finalist in the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, a first for any Indian women shooter and also the first Indian athlete to make an Olympic final since

P.T. Usha Pilavullakandi Thekkeraparambil Usha (born 27 June 1964) is a retired Indian track and field athlete. She was born in Kuthali, Kozhikode, Kerala. She has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979. She has won 4 Asian gold medals and 7 S ...

in 1984. She has won 12 gold and 4 silver medals in the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Shooting Championships. She is a Commonwealth record holder in

and Sports Rifle 3P. In the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, Bhagwat created history by becoming the first Indian woman shooter to get gold and a silver medal in the Sports 3P and

events respectively. To date, she has won 31 Gold, 23 Silver and 7 Bronze medals. She has set 13 new records in international competitions and has won 55 Gold, 35 Silver and 16 Bronze medals, with 8 new records in national competitions in India.

Early life

Anjali Ramakant Vedpathak was born on 5 December 1969, in a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

family in Mumbai. Inspired by the legendary athlete Carl Lewis, Bhagwat developed an interest in sports. Her first brush with shooting occurred during her stint as a cadet in the National Cadet Corps (NCC). A student of Judo

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

and advanced mountaineering, Bhagwat was very much attracted to

NCC NCC may refer to: Biology *Neural correlates of consciousness, neuronal events and mechanisms relating to perception phenomena *Sodium-chloride symporter, abbreviated as NCC Companies *National Certification Corporation, a nursing specialty cer ...

. She joined Kirti College in Mumbai mainly due to its close affinity with the

. As a part of her curriculum she got into MRA (Maharashtra Rifle Association). She started shooting at the age of 21 and within 7 days of holding a gun, she took part in the National Championship of 1988, winning a silver medal for

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

in the process.

Career

Sanjay Chakravarthy was her first coach. She credits him for her strong fundamentals and basics; instilled over a period of over 5 years. She turned pro when she first participated in the

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

in 1988. She won Silver for her state and continues to play for the

team. Her tally of 55 Gold, 35 Silver and 16 Bronze medals in domestic Competitions is unbeaten. She participated in her first international event in 1995, in the SAF games. Her first international Gold winning performance was in the Commonwealth Championship in Auckland in 1999, where she won 3 Gold medals and a silver medal in

, 3P individual and the team event. She is the only woman to have won the World Cup for India. She considers her rival Galkina Lioubov (Russia) as an idol competitor. In December 1999, she started training under Laszlo Szucsak, the then coach for the Indian Shooting Team. Bhagwat had personally approached Laszlo after watching his work with the Malaysian Shooting squad. The Hungarian remained with the team for a year during which Bhagwat earned a wild card entry in the

, where she went on to become one of the finalists. From 2001 to 2004, Bhagwat trained without a coach, and still managed to become World Number One in 2002. During the year 2006, Laszlo re-joined the national shooting squad as the team Coach, and Bhagwat trained with him till 2008. In the year 2008, Stanislav Lapidus was appointed the coach by the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. Its aim was to secure In ...

for the national squad. Many stalwarts of the sport of shooting often rate World Championships higher than the

. Bhagwat has ranked her victory as the Champions of Champions in 2002 as the best moment in her career. She still remains the only Indian to have ever won the title.

Competitions

Equipment and sponsors

Bhagwat uses a

Feinwerkbau Feinwerkbau , often abbreviated FWB, is a German manufacturer of firearms and air guns aimed mainly at competitive ISSF shooting events, including some contested at the Olympic Games as governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) ...

, a German-made rifle for her

events. For 10m she prefers a

while for 50m she uses a .22

Walther Walther is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a German form of Walter, which is derived from the Old High German ''Walthari'', containing the elements ''wald'' -"power", "brightness" or "forest" and ''hari'' -"warrior". The name was fir ...

. Bhagwat's first kit was gifted to her by Bollywood actor and a fellow shooter, Nana Patekar in 1993. She was officially sponsored by the Hinduja Foundation in 2000, and later by the

Mittal Champions Trust Mittal Champions Trust (2005 to 2014) was a trust which supported Indian athletes with world-beating potential. It was funded by Lakshmi Mittal and was initiated by his son-in-law Amit Bhatia. It was founded on 9 November 2005 by Mahesh Bhupathi. ...

in 2008.

Hyundai Corporation Hyundai Corporation () is a South Korean company founded in 1976 as part of the Hyundai ''chaebol''. It is a general trading company providing export and import services with a wide variety of products including marine vessels, industrial plants ...

also supported her training prior to 2004.

Awards

Rajiv Gandhi Khel-Ratna (2003)
Arjuna Award (2000) *1992:Shree Shiv Chattrapati Award *1993:Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar *1993:Vasantrav Naik Pratishthan Puraskar *2002:Indo-American Societ

Young Achiever award *2003:Times Group Maharashtra Shaan *2003:Hero Indian Sports Award -Best sportswoman *2003:HISA Sports Woman of the year *2003:HISA Shooter of the year *2004:HISA Shooter of the year *2005:GR8 women achievers award *2005:Teacher's achievement award *2006:F I E Foundation National award

Personal life

Bhagwat has two siblings; a younger brother Rahul and an elder sister Neena. She is a tennis and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

enthusiast. Yoga and meditation form a large part of her daily routine. Her mother sang for AIR (All India Radio) while her sister is a singer too. An avid reader, she enjoys fiction. In December 2000, she married Mumbai-based businessman, Mandar Bhagwat. The couple has a son named Aa radhya born in 2010. In 2006, she shifted her base from Mumbai to Pune due city's better sporting facilities. Bhagwat is currently coaching six shooters in Pune, for which she also utilizes her own range. The 10m range is a part of her house and she usually practises there.

In popular culture

She has promoted sports through associations with

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

and Reliance. Bhagwat was vastly appreciated for her participation in India's bid for hosting

Commonwealth Games 2010 The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

alongside sporting legends like Sunil Gavaskar. Bhagwat was a part of the

Bournvita Quiz Contest The ''Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest'' is an Indian quiz contest that began on 12 April 1972. Sponsored by Cadbury India, it is one of India's most famous quiz contests. Originally held live in cities across the country, it later became a radio ...

as a special guest. She was also a part of the expert panel on CNN-IBN during the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and 2010. She featured in the Hero Honda Sports Awards, 2007 where she sang and danced impromptu with former Indian cricketers Vinod Kambli and Ajay Jadeja. She has also been the subject of inspiration for many including a noted writer and columnist, Shobha De, who dedicated her column to Bhagwat after their interaction at an award ceremony. She has been on the government selection panel for some of the top notch sports award, both on state & national level such as Shiv Chatrapati Award, Arjuna Award and Dronacharaya Award. Apart from this she has done a guest appearance in Marathi film ''Bokya Satbande''. She has walked ramp twice for fashion designer Vikram Phadnis. She has been teaching blind students. She regularly writes for different newspaper and magazines

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhagwat, Anjali Living people Indian female sport shooters ISSF rifle shooters Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award Olympic shooters of India Shooters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Arjuna Award 1969 births Asian Games medalists in shooting Marathi sportspeople Shooters at the 1998 Asian Games Shooters at the 2002 Asian Games Shooters at the 2006 Asian Games Shooters at the 2014 Asian Games Sport shooters from Mumbai Commonwealth Games medallists in shooting Sportswomen from Maharashtra Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people Asian Games silver medalists for India Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Shooters at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 2006 Commonwealth Games