"I am quite happy with my performance" - Anjum Moudgil, despite failing to make it to the medal round.
Only about an hour after Swapnil Kusale clinched the bronze medal in the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, began the women's competition for the same event. Representing India in the 50m Rifle 3P were Anjum Moudgil and Sift Kaur Samra.
While Samra found herself in the second half of the ranking chart through the competition, Moudgil was pushing for a spot in the top 8. A total of 32 shooters competed in this event, a quarter of which went through to the medal round.
Unfortunately, Moudgil couldn't be consistent with her returns and eventually finished 18th. Speaking to All India Radio (Akashvani) after her event, she sounded quite satisfied with her performance.
"I am quite happy with my performance," said Moudgil. "There is disappointment for sure that in prone position I lost a few more points because of which there was quite an impact on my overall score."
In this event, a shooter is required to fire his/her shots from three different positions. The first 20 shots are fired from a kneeling position, and the next 20 from a position in which the shooter lies on their stomach, known as the prone position. And, the third position is the standing position. Each shot offers a maximum of 10 points. Generally, the prone position is considered the highest-scoring one.
Moudgil scored 196 points in the kneeling position and was ranked ninth after the first 20 shots. In the prone position round, Moudgil could only notch up 194 points. With this, her ranking slipped to 21.
"Reaching the finals seemed quite easy," said Moudgil "But I think, prone (position round) went wrong in the middle. But I was happy that I bounced back and finished with a good standing."
Moudgil finished with a total score of 584 (26x). This was 5 points short of the minimum score with which a shooter qualified for the medal round.
Nevertheless, Moudgil understands that winning and losing are part and parcel of a sportsperson's life.
"I think it is a journey. Today the weather was a bit out of control and this is what I scored." said Moudgil.
The weather in Paris and Chateauroux has been a bit inconsistent over the last week. It has generally been hot with a few spells of rain in between. It was largely bright and sunny on the day of the aforementioned event.
"Sunlight or darkness doesn’t really cause any issues," said Moudgil. "Mainly, it is about the wind. When the wind is tricky and your judgement is slightly off, the shot goes wrong. I think that is what happened today, but other than that, there was no issue as such."
Moudgil reiterated that she was merely describing the conditions and not making an excuse.
"And even this is a part of our game. So I won’t complain about it. My judgement was not good in prone." she added.
Anjum Moudgil had finished 15th in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics.
This was Anjum Moudgil's second appearance at the quadrennial games. Before this, she had represented India at the Tokyo Olympics.
At Tokyo, Moudgil participated in two events - the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team and the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions. In the individual event, she finished 15th.
Moudgil had registered a total score of 1167. Remember, this score was out of a total possible 1200. Back then, each shooter was supposed to fire 120 shots in the qualification round.
In the mixed-team event, Moudgil was partnered by Deepak Kumar. The duo finished 18th, outside of the medal zone. Their total score was 623.8.
Moudgil's journey at the Paris Olympics has now come to an end.