Tejaswini is first Indian woman shooter to be World champion

That's the message world champion shooter Tejaswini sent to Viren Rasquinha, CEO of Olympic Gold Quest of which she is a beneficiary

According to Olympic Gold Quest CEO Viren Rasquinha, World Champion shooter Tejaswini Sawant will be more nervous now, after shooting gold at the Munich event, than she would have been going into the competition.

"Teju is one of the most humble and down to earth persons you'd ever meet and if I know her well, I think, she will be very nervous now as she prepares to return to India after shooting gold in Munich. Speaking to the media and getting all this limelight is something very unlike her," Rasquinha told MiD DAY from Kolkata yesterday.

SHOOTING STAR: India's Tejaswini Sawant, who became the first Indian
woman shooter to clinch a gold medal at the World Championships with
a world-record equalling score in the 50m Rifle Prone event in Munich,
Germany. PIC/AFP

In the 50m Prone event, Sawant shot a score of 597 out of a maximum of 600 (100, 100, 100, 99, 99, 99) thereby equalling Russian Marina Bobkova's World mark set in 1998. Sawant was tied with Poland's Ewa Joanna Nowakowska but declared winner with a better perfect score of 41.

Rasquinha is particularly happy for India's first women gold medal-winning world champion shooter as she had been going through a rather rough patch recently. "Ever since her two gold medals at the last Commonwealth Games, Teju has not been doing very well and to add to that she lost her father only five months ago. She was quite depressed. In fact, OGQ actually helped do her visa for the Munich event and I can tell that she was not in the best of spirits. So, I'm glad this has happened to her," added Viren.

The star shooter is most grateful too. Sawant immediately sent Rasquinha a text message from Munich after her gold medal feat. "Thanks for all your support. I hope this is just the beginning. Thanks a lot to OGQ," the message read.

A confidence-booster like this will not only do wonders for Tejaswini's career but will also help swell India's medal tally at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi. And who knows, an Olympic medal could be round the corner too.