When Goa CM Parrikar helped Mah shooter Tejaswini take aim
| Date :19-Mar-2019 |
MUMBAI,
WHEN a young and little known Tejaswini Sawant was in urgent need of financial help to participate in a shooting world championship in Germany, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar came as her ray of hope. The support not only enabled the shooter from Kolhapur in Maharashtra to participate in the competition in 2005, but also became a turning point in her career as she scaled new heights thereafter, Sawant said. Her only regret now is that she could not thank the Chief Minister enough for his generosity which made a big contribution in her life and shooting career. “It was a brief meeting with Parrikar along with family friend and senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil. He just listened about my performance and estimated the expenditure.
He then signed a cheque for me immediately,” the ace shooter recalled while talking to PTI over phone. “The amount was around Rs 1 lakh and it was the most needed help for me that changed my entire career,” she said. It helped Sawant move ahead as she scored 397 and 396 out of 400 in two rounds of the event, comfortably securing a place among the mainstream shooters to represent India.
The boost further helped her in improving her performance game by game, and she subsequently became the first Indian woman shooter to win a gold medal at the World Championships, with a world-record equalling score in the 50m rifle prone event in 2010 in Germany. “I could do it only because of two people. First, Manohar Parrikar for his trust and financial support, and then Chandrakant Patil, who took my case to Parrikar,” she said.