Anjum not at home with shooting in Chandigarh

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 18

Anjum Moudgil is in a happy place. The silver medal in the women’s 50-metre 3 positions event at the ISSF World Cup in Mexico recently has put her on the world map.

But her mood changes a bit when she’s quizzed about where she trains in Chandigarh. “Chandigarh’s range is not up to standard. I come to Delhi to shoot,” she says. “I have to come to Delhi as 50-metre rifle is my main event. We don’t have a range in Chandigarh for that. So I come to Delhi, else I go to Deepali (Deshpande) ma’am in Pune or Mumbai to train.”

The absence of a fully-equipped range in Chandigarh means Anjum is forced to take a break from training whenever she is staying at her home in Chandigarh. 

“All the camps or major competitions are in Delhi. So in a month, I am in Chandigarh for only six days; otherwise, I am in Delhi or in Mumbai,” says the 24-year-old.

“I don’t train if I’m at home. I train a bit for the 10-metre event but there is no other option. I don’t know when the range will be finished as it has been in the works for many years. But I hope we can get a good range in Chandigarh where I can train,” she said.

Credit to coach

Anjum credits national coach Deepali for helping her improve and reach her first senior podium at the global stage. The rifle ace says she had modest guidance in shooting when she started shooting during her time with the NCC.

“We did not have coaches who could work on our basics,” she says. “But it got better when we got Deepali as coach in 2013. That was the first time we got a good Olympian coach with us. I started to work on the basics again and today if I am here, it’s because of her. The journey with her for the past four-five years has really helped me reach where I am.”

The many shades of a shooter

New Delhi: Anjum is a multi-faceted personality with deep interest in painting and sports psychology. It’s a balancing act that she has mastered. “Whatever you do, it requires full focus. When I am painting, I get into that mode. That requires concentration — which ultimately helps in my training for shooting. I don’t do any other meditation exercises,” she says.

She admits she was not an elegant painter growing up. “I am an abstract painter. I don’t do oil painting,” she says. Her Instagram account features some of her work, and some of it has found buyers. Her teammates in the national camps request her to do paintings for them. Her favourite subject is the serene face of Gautam Buddha.

“When I go out (of the country), I don’t carry my painting stuff but I find time to do painting using coffee powder,” she says. Why coffee? Because paint takes too long to dry, she says. — IANS