Avneet Kaur Sidhu (

Bathinda Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...

, 30 October 1981) is an Indian

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such a ...

. She won the gold medal in the Women's 10m Air Rifle (Pairs) with

Tejaswini Sawant Tejaswini Sawant (born 12 September 1980) is an Indian shooter from the Maharashtrian city of Kolhapur. Her father Ravindra Sawant was an officer in the Indian Navy. Biography Tejaswini born to father Ravindra and mother Sunita in Kolhapur. S ...

at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

. She contested in the 10 m air rifle and 50 m rifle three positions at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Her various achievements in national and international events are:

Awards and achievements

* Commonwealth Games 2006, Melbourne - Gold medal Team * Commonwealth Games 2006, Melbourne - Silver Medal Individual* * Asian Games, Doha 2006 - Bronze medal * 11th Asian Shooting Championship, Kuwait, 2007 - Bronze medal * 33rd National Games, Guwahati, 2007 - two silver medals * 51st National Shooting Championship, Ahmedabad - Gold medal * 2008: Received the Arjuna Award * 2013- Received the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award * 2008: Australia Cup, Sydney - Gold medal *2010 - InterShoot, Netherlands - Individual Silver and Team Gold medal * 2011- Team Gold medal- National Championship * 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 - Gold medals in all four All India Police Shooting Championships * 2017 - World Police Games, Los Angeles, USA - one Gold, one Silver and two Bronze medals Has won more than 100 medals in different national and international competitions In August 2006, winning an Olympic quota for India in the 49th World Shooting Championship held at Zagreb (Croatia), she became the sixth sportsperson (shooting) of the country to book a quota place in the Olympic Games 2008 Beijing, China. Among the long tally of her achievements, a bronze medal that she won in the 15th Asian Games held at Doha (Qatar) in 2006, a bronze in the 11th Asian Shooting Championship held in Kuwait and a gold medal in AISL Australia Cup II held at Sydney in March 2008 are the major ones. Speaking to The Tribune, the elated shooter informed that she had won more than a dozen gold medals and many silver and bronze medals in various competitions she participated in at the international and national levels. Besides this, she has represented India in 12 World Cups. She scored 397 out of 400 in the World Championship, 2006 and earned an Olympic quota place for India. She is the first woman shooter from Punjab to represent India in the Beijing Olympic Games, 2008 and the first woman shooter from Punjab to win the Commonwealth and Asian Games medals. Recipient of Punjab State Award, she was conferred with the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

by President Mrs.

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

on 29 August 2008.

Biography

Born in 1981, Avneet did her schooling from St. Joseph's Convent School in Bathinda. She started her shooting career in 2001 from the Dasmesh Girls’ College, Badal. Impressing all with her calibre, in a short span of six years, she reached the top and secured a gold and a silver medal in the 18th Commonwealth Games—2006, held at Melbourne (Australia). She started her shooting career in 2001 while pursuing her Bachelor in Computer Applications degree from Dasmesh Girls College, Badal, the native village of S. Parkash Singh Badal. She completed her master's degree in English literature in 2005. She has won around 60 medals in various national and international events. She worked as Assistant Manager in Air India. Acknowledging the glory that renowned shooter Avneet Kaur Sidhu of Bathinda has brought to her home state, the Punjab government has decided to honour her by offering the post of deputy superintendent of police (DSP).

Personal life

She is married to the former Indian

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

captain

Rajpal Singh Rajpal Singh (born 8 August 1983) is a former captain of India national hockey team. He plays from the forward (front line) position. He is an Arjuna Award winner. He is a graduate from Chandigarh’s SGGS Khalsa College and a product of Shi ...

and the couple have one child.
imes of India, 15 September 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidhu, Avneet Indian female sport shooters ISSF rifle shooters Living people Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Shooters at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Olympic shooters of India Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Games medalists in shooting 1981 births Shooters at the 2006 Asian Games Sportswomen from Punjab, India Commonwealth Games medallists in shooting 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games