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Anjali Bhagwat

Personal information
Birth name	Anjali Ramakanta Vedpathak
Nationality	Indian
Born	(1969-12-05) 5 December 1969 (age 54) Mumbai, Maharashtra
Height	5 ft 4 in (163 cm)
Website	anjalibhagwat.com
Sport
Sport	Rifle shooting
Turned pro	1988
Medal record Representing  India International Career Statistics 31 23 7 Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester Air Rifle (Individual) 2002 Manchester Air Rifle Team 2002 Manchester 3P (Individual) 2002 Manchester 3P Team 2006 Melbourne 3P Team Commonwealth Championships 1999 Auckland Air Rifle (Individual) 1999 Auckland Air Rifle Team 1999 Auckland 3P(Individual) 2001 England Air Rifle (Individual) 2001 England Air Rifle Team 2001 England 3P(Individual) 2001 England 3P Team 2005 Melbourne Air Rifle Team 2005 Melbourne 3P (Individual) 1999 Auckland 3P Team 2001 England Air Rifle Team 2005 Melbourne Air Rifle (Individual)

Anjali Bhagwat (born 5 December 1969) is a professional Indian sport shooter. She became the World Number One in 10m Air Rifle in 2002. She also won her first World Cup Final in Milan, in 2003, with a score of 399/400.^[1]

Anjali won the ISSF Champion of Champions award and is the only Indian to win the ISSF Champions' Trophy in Air Rifle Men & Women mixed event at Munich in 2002. She has represented India in three consecutive Olympics, and was a finalist in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, a first for any Indian women shooter and also the first Indian athlete to make an Olympic final since P.T. Usha in 1984.^[2] She has won 12 gold and 4 silver medals in the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Shooting Championships. She is a Commonwealth record holder in 10m Air Rifle and Sports Rifle 3P. In the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, Bhagwat created history by becoming the first Indian woman shooter to get gold and a silver medal in the Sports 3P and Air Rifle events respectively.

To date, she has won 31 Gold, 23 Silver and 7 Bronze medals. She has set 13 new records in international competitions and has won 55 Gold, 35 Silver and 16 Bronze medals, with 8 new records in national competitions in India.

Early life

Anjali Ramakant Vedpathak was born on 5 December 1969,^[3] in a Marathi family in Mumbai.^[4] Inspired by the legendary athlete Carl Lewis, Bhagwat developed an interest in sports.^{[citation needed]} Her first brush with shooting occurred during her stint as a cadet in the National Cadet Corps (NCC). A student of Judo Karate and advanced mountaineering, Bhagwat was very much attracted to NCC. She joined Kirti College in Mumbai mainly due to its close affinity with the NCC. As a part of her curriculum she got into MRA (Maharashtra Rifle Association). She started shooting at the age of 21 and within 7 days of holding a gun, she took part in the National Championship of 1988, winning a silver medal for Maharashtra in the process.

Career

Sanjay Chakravarthy was her first coach. She credits him for her strong fundamentals and basics; instilled over a period of over 5 years.^{[citation needed]} She turned pro when she first participated in the National Championships in 1988. She won Silver for her state and continues to play for the Maharashtra team. Her tally of 55 Gold, 35 Silver and 16 Bronze medals in domestic Competitions is unbeaten.

She participated in her first international event in 1995, in the SAF games. Her first international Gold winning performance was in the Commonwealth Championship in Auckland in 1999, where she won 3 Gold medals and a silver medal in Air Rifle, 3P individual and the team event. She is the only woman to have won the World Cup for India.^{[citation needed]} She considers her rival Galkina Lioubov (Russia) as an idol competitor.^{[citation needed]}

In December 1999, she started training under Laszlo Szucsak, the then coach for the Indian Shooting Team. Bhagwat had personally approached Laszlo after watching his work with the Malaysian Shooting squad.^{[citation needed]} The Hungarian remained with the team for a year during which Bhagwat earned a wild card entry in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she went on to become one of the finalists. From 2001 to 2004, Bhagwat trained without a coach, and still managed to become World Number One in 2002.

During the year 2006, Laszlo re-joined the national shooting squad as the team Coach, and Bhagwat trained with him till 2008. In the year 2008, Stanislav Lapidus was appointed the coach by the Indian National Army for the national squad. Many stalwarts of the sport of shooting often rate World Championships higher than the Olympics. Bhagwat has ranked her victory as the Champions of Champions in 2002 as the best moment in her career. She still remains the only Indian to have ever won the title.^{[citation needed]}

Competitions