New Mixed Team Events Hold Medal Promise for India
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TRULY TIMES 10 SPORTS JAMMU, FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2021 Tokyo Olympics great chance for us to New mixed team events hold create history: Hockey defender Gurjit medal promise for India The Tokyo Olympics will be the most gender equal Games ever. India’s mixed pairs have had a great run leading up to it As a pair, Saurabh That gives you confidence,” have a touch of familiarity The Indian women's hockey team defender Gurjit Kaur, Chaudhary and Manu said Panwar. for the Indians. Six out of the who has played 87 matches for the national side, is all set to Bhaker are not used to shoot- Panwar, who paired with 16 pairs including India are represent India in the Olympics for the first time in her ing from unfamiliar turf. But Moudgil in 2019 and won from Asia, a powerhouse in career. The defender expressed that the Tokyo Olympics is that is where India’s crack two World Cup golds, com- the sport. Three of those six a great chance for the Indian women's Hockey Team to cre- pistol combination was being bined with Elavenil for the pairs also competed together ate history. pushed to by Iranian Javad first time in senior World at the 2018 Jakarta Asian "When you play with the Indian team, you have to start Foroughi and Golnoush Cup, though they have shot Games, where Sharath and thinking about not just your game but also how you can Sebghatollahi in the mixed successfully as a pair since Batra bagged a historic carry the other players forward. And the way we are playing team air pistol final at the their junior days, including a bronze medal. In Tokyo, right now, it's a great chance for us to create history," said ISSF World Cup here in gold at the Junior World Cup therefore, the Indians might the 25-year-old in a Hockey India release. March. in 2018. well run into the higher- When asked about how she started playing the game of The two teenage pistol “With Ela, it’s jokes, ranked Korean pair of Lee hockey, Gurjit said, "I was born in a farmer's family in prodigies, paired up in 2019 laughter, all the time, some- Sang-su and Jeon Ji-hee, Miadi Kalan in Amritsar. Leave alone playing, the name for shooting’s newest format times even before a final,” whom they have the confi- Hockey was even alien to my family. My sister - Pradeep and went on a trip: shattering said Panwar. dence of beating twice—in and I had spent most of our early years in a private school reputations while winning all Unlike them, Chaudhary the Round of 16 of the Asian close to our village. four World Cup gold medals and Bhaker keep to them- Games and the final of the "We then moved to a boarding school in Kairon which on hand that year. selves. There are no words Asian qualification tourna- was around 70 kilometers from our home. It was here where When international com- exchanged even after getting ment in Doha that sealed my sister and I got a chance to try something new, Hockey. petition resumed after almost the job done. their Tokyo spot. I knew nothing about the game so the whole day I used to a year spent in suspension the scores levelled at 12-12, to bring gender parity in total athletes, courtesy more More medals? Of course, the Olympics just watch the other girls play. And that made me want to due to the pandemic, the Indian duo saved their shooting competitions at the women’s events as well as Like shooting, table tennis will provide a stiffer chal- play the game. That's how I took baby steps to get accus- Chaudhary and Bhaker had a best for the last two shots, on Olympics. nine new mixed team events. too will witness a mixed lenge, the biggest coming tomed with my newfound passion," she added. fight on their hands for the match-point. Chaudhary Women and the Olympics Other Indian pairs have doubles competition for the from the Chinese and Gurjit further expressed how the art of drag flicking first time since they paired fired 10.7 and Bhaker 10.5 Female athletes were impressed in the mixed team first time at the Olympics. Japanese, for the Indian pair helped her cement her place in the Indian team after making up. At the World Cup, the for a combined total of 21.2 excluded from the first mod- format too. India will have And while a singles medal ranked 19th in the world. But her Senior Team debut in 2014. Iranian duo had cruised to a to Iran’s 20.5 for their fifth ern Olympic Games in 1896 two pairs each in (rifle/pis- by an Indian paddler would rankings can hold little sig- "Drag flicks are an indispensable part of modern-day 10-6 lead (two points for World Cup gold on the trot. because Pierre de Coubertin, tol) mixed events. In six be a miraculous outcome, a nificance in mixed doubles. Hockey and drag flicks are something that helped me winning a set and first to 16 That golden run of who founded the Games, world cups from 2019, India top three finish in mixed At the Asian Games they cement my position in the National side. It wasn't until the wins) in the mixed tea, final. Chaudhary and Bhaker was thought women should not have won nine gold, three doubles is realistic, where were seeded ninth but beat tour of Europe in 2017, where I had the opportunity to work A day before, Foroughi had halted in the recent World play sports at the highest silver and two bronze medals veteran Sharath Kamal will third seed Koreans in the with Toon Siepman," said Gurjit. stunned Chaudhary to win Cup in Osijek, Croatia 10 level at all. “No matter how in rifle and pistol mixed pair up with young Manika Round of 16. "He has trained Hockey greats like Sohail Abbas and gold in the individual event. days ago, against top-notch toughened a sportswoman events, beating world and Batra in Tokyo. Sharath and Batra, with an Mink van der Weerden. He taught me almost everything The two 19-year-old Russian combination of may be, her organism is not Olympic champions along Why? Because of the vol- age gap of 12 years, make for about drag-flicks. He asked me to change my technique a Indians responded as only Vitalina Batsarashkina – Rio cut out to sustain certain the way. In the New Delhi ume and the field. A total of a tricky opposition because little bit, and that has helped me to improve my game they could. Chaudhary, icy as Olympics silver medallist – shocks,” Coubertin had said World Cup, the world No.1 16 pairs will line up to com- of their different game tremendously," she added. always, shifted gears and and Artem Chernousov, then. Things have been slow rifle pair of Elavaneil pete in the mixed doubles in styles—Sharath with his Gurjit said that she has always tried to contribute as much began hitting high 10s. World Championship gold to change—in 1992, almost a Valarivan, 21 and No. 2 Tokyo, around half the num- solid power game and Batra as possible to the Indian team's progress throughout her Bhaker soon caught up. The medallist. The Russians hundred years after the first Divyansh Singh Panwar, 19, ber of participants for sin- with her ability to slow the career. sparse gathering of team- edged past 16-12 in the gold Olympics, there were exactly also shot gold. gles. All 16 pairs will battle game down by engaging in "After I started playing for India, I played in the Series in mates, coaches, and officials medal match. half the number of women’s “In individual events the in a direct knockout format rallies. “As a singles player, Canada, Hockey World League Round 2 as well as the at the Karni Singh Range The blip, however, will in events compared to men’s. pressure is more. In a mixed with no byes. “Which means it might be very, very diffi- semi-finals in 2017. Be it the 2018 Asian Games where we found its voice, knowing no way rob the Indian pistol Tokyo will see more team you can be a bit relaxed you’re actually three good cult for me to dream of win- won the Silver medal or the FIH Series Finals in Japan well the Indian pair has shooters of the tag of ‘hot women athletes than ever because you know that even matches away from being ning that Olympic medal. In where I was the top scorer with 11 goals, I always try to moved into a zone where favourites’ at Tokyo, in a before—they will make up if you don’t shoot well, you there,” Sharath said. mixed doubles, we stand a contribute to our team's progress as much as I can," signed they were unstoppable. With brand-new event introduced nearly half the number of have a partner to rely on. The field in Tokyo will chance,” Sharath said. off the defender. Glan Martins signs Tennis Hall of Famer Shirley Fry Irvin passes away at 94 Tokyo 2020: Pandemic did not impact my new long-term deal Olympics preparation, says PV Sindhu with FC Goa World champion PV in June – starting all three Sindhu says that the forced games in India’s World Cup break during the COVID-19 qualifiers.