Pune: Ramita and Tilottama Sen resisted a tough Chinese challenge to finish on the podium in the junior women’s 10m air rifle event at the ISSF World Championships in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.
While Ramita, 18, won the gold, Tilottama, 14, bagged the bronze, her first international medal. Ramita, who hails from Kurukshetra in Haryana, defeated China’s Ying Shen 16-12 in the gold medal match. Ramita topped the ranking round and qualified for the gold medal match with 262.8, while Bengaluru’s Tilottama took bronze with 261.
“It was a tough match, but I am happy that I could manage to handle the pressure well,” Ramita told TOI after her match.
Although Tilottama took bronze, she was the best shooter in the qualification round.
She displayed immense grit and nerve by scoring junior world record equalling 633 in the qualifications. As per the new rules, the score will be considered as a World Championships record as the international shooting body has stopped registering world records. What started as a break from popular cartoon programme Chhota Bheem soon became a passion.
“In 2020, because of online schooling, she was hooked to the screen all the time. After school, she used to watch Chhota Bheem the whole day. I wanted her to reduce her screen time and do something productive. We had heard of shooting, so I decided to introduce her to the sport,” Tilottama’s father Sujit Sen a software engineer, said.
Within a year of starting, Tilottama made her way to the Indian team.
Tilottama, who trains with former player-turned-coach Rakesh Manpat, travels almost 50 kilometres every day for practice.
“She is a very dedicated shooter. She commutes for almost three hours every day but never misses a day’s training. Tilottama is only 14 but she is very mature and emotionally stable, and it reflects in her shooting,” Manpat said. “She came to me in 2020 but by 2021 December, she was already in the top-4 of the Indian junior team. She is also eighth in the senior ranking,” Manpat said.
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