Only 15, shooter Tilottama Sen overcomes heartbreaks to secure Paris Olympics quota | Sport-others News

One took up the sport simply to reduce screen time. The other, with a single-minded focus, enrolled under Beijing Olympics gold medall Abhinav Bindra’s coach. On Friday, their diverse path took them to a common goal: securing quota for the Paris Olympics.Fifteen-year-old Tilottama Sen and Arjun Babuta, 24, finished on the podium at the Asian Shooting Championship at Changwon, South Korea, and booked Olympic berths, taking the country’s tally to nine so far. Both Sen and Babuta won silver medals in the 10m air rifle event.
Sen, one of the youngest and most promising shooters in India, said she began shooting so that she would spend less time watching cartoons.
“I loved karate and volleyball as a child. When the Covid-19 lockdown happened, most of my time was spent watching cartoons like Chota Bheem. My father Sujit Sen put me into shooting at the near academy in Bengaluru and that’s how my love for shooting began,” she told The Indian Express from Changwon.
One of the youngest and most promising shooters in India, Tilottama Sen began shooting so that she would spend less time watching cartoons. (PHOTO: NRAI)
“Once I got the hang of the rifle and jacket, it was all about keeping things simple at the range and that’s what I tried today. To win the quota for India in a very competitive 10m air rifle event is the icing on the cake,” she added.
While Sen took up shooting to end her screen time, Babuta took up shooting at the insence of his parents Neeraj and Deepti.
A young Babuta would spend hours training under coach Col JS Dhillon, who played a crucial role in Bindra’s career, at the coach’s Chandigarh home and would soon break into the Indian junior shooting team.
A bronze medal in the Junior World Cup in Spain in 2016 was followed another bronze in the Junior World Cup in Suhl in 2018. Just when Babuta was starting to cement his place in the Indian senior team, he suffered a career-threatening back injury.
“One thing which I learnt from Dhillon Sir was to never give up and believe in myself. When I suffered a back injury in 2019, I could not even stand and would fall while shooting. We consulted many doctors but to no avail,” Babuta said.
He added that a physiotherap from Patiala, Dr Narkeesh, helped him in his recovery. “I would travel daily from Mohali to Patiala for recovery sessions and once I was okay, I made progress from shooting ten shots to 100-120 shots in practice. My coach Deepali Deshpande kept telling me that I would shoot like earlier one day and I am glad that I had the belief,” said the shooter from Punjab.
Arjun Babuta took up shooting at the insence of his parents Neeraj and Deepti. (PHOTO: NRAI)
Like Babuta, Sen too had had to endure heartbreaks. The Kolkata youngster missed the Paris Olympics quota for the country a whisker when she finished fourth in the ISSF World Championship in Baku with compatriot Mehuli Ghosh edging her out.
Earlier this year, Sen also missed the Asian Games as she finished third in the trials. “It’s good and competitive to shoot against each other. Each one of us including Ramita, Mehuli and Elavenil sees each other as motivating each other and such a competitive atmosphere at the domestic level keeps us ready for the international competition,” said Sen.
The depth in Indian rifle shooting can also be gauged from the fact that Babuta has had to compete against the likes of Olympian Diyansh Panwar, World Championship silver medall Rudrankksh Patil, Asian Games bronze medall Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and others.
“Today, all three of us, including Divyansh and Hriday, had a belief that a quota for India will come. If Divyansh had won the quota, I would have been the first to congratulate him and he did the same in my case. Of course, winning the quota gives one some extra weightage for the final selection process, it also makes us shoot in intense pressure situations mentally,” said Babuta. Most Read
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It was a tense men’s final as Babuta was placed fifth after the first series. He was tied for fourth after the second series before he made progress in the elimination stages. Eight scores out of 14 shots of 10.5 and more meant that Babuta won the silver behind Chinese Lihao Sheng.
It was the same for Sen in the women’s final as she was placed fourth with compatriot Ramita Jindal in second position after the second stage. The elimination rounds saw Jindal once taking the lead but Sen kept her cool and shot ten shots out of 14 over 10.5 or more to claim the silver ahead of Jindal and the quota place for India.
“Both Arjun and Tilottama did not let the pressure of the first two stages hamper them in the final. They made sure that they were not too behind after the second stage and maintained their cool in the elimination round. The quota pressure is always on the shooter’s mind and it’s about who handles it well in the final. I am happy that we could win two quotas in each of the air rifle events,” said national coach Suma Shirur.