Two-time Olympian Sanjeev Rajput has a lot more to cherish from the World Cup in Rio, apart from the agony of missing the gold by 0.2 point and winning the Olympic quota in men’s rifle 3-position event!
Sanjeev had protested a ‘zero’ registered for a shot during the kneeling position in the qualification stage. After deliberation for many minutes, the technical officials had asked him to repeat the shot and complete the last shot in kneeling. So, he resumed and shot two 10s.
Later, when the technical officials checked the target manually, they found that all the shots were grouped in the centre. So, they upheld his protest. However, there was an error in tabulating his scores, as the officials credited a nine for Sanjeev, perhaps for the missing shot, which brought the total to 1180.
Sanjeev had shot that score a few times including the Commonwealth Games. So, he was keen to get the new national record of 1181. The Indian team promptly protested the score, even before the final.
The International Federation (ISSF) took its time in correcting the scores and did so a few days after the curtains had come down on the Rio World Cup. A member of the ISSF Technical Committee Wilhelm-Xaver Grill, who was the Technical Director in Rio, effected the change in scores, after returning to the ISSF Headquarters in Germany, after he had failed to convince the Technical Delegate and Jury in Rio !
“I am very happy to get 1181 against my name,’’ said Sanjeev, who thus matched the best score in the Rio World Cup by Zhang Changhong of China. The ISSF conveyed to the Indian team on September 11, that it was correcting the score for Sanjeev Rajput, and updating the official results book. “Yes, a lot of things to remember Rio. All happy things and happy moments,’’ said Sanjeev, proud to have a new national record against his name.
For the record, it may be noted that Anjum Moudgil had shot 1180 out of 1200 for the women’s National record, which also remained the world record for some time.
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