Commonwealth Games: India's champion shooters speak to WION

India finished third at the recently concluded 21st Commonwealth Games with 66 medals, including 26 gold medals, 20 silver and 20 bronze medals. There were many moments during the Games which will be cherished forever like Mary Kom, five-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist, won her first CWG medal by claiming gold in the women's 45-48kg boxing event and young champs like Anish, Mehuli and Manu Bhakar earned glory and made the nation proud.

However, shooters displayed an outstanding performance by bagging a total of 16 medals in different categories. 27 shooters took part in the event and clinched 16 medals out of which seven are gold.

Young shooting sensation Mehuli Ghosh won a silver medal in the 10m air rifle event at the Commonwealth Games. In an exclusive interview with WION.com, Mehuli said, "I don't remember when was the last time I went to school."

With a smile on her face, she also said, "I am missing those (school) days but I wanted this life. I wanted to take part in all these competitions and I wanted all these things to happen." She further added that sports and success at the CWG has changed her life being a teenager.

Mehuli told WION.com about her preparations for CWG. She said, "It's about mental, technical and physical strength, so you have to work on these three things." She clearly mentioned that the performance is mainly depended on the mental, technical and physical strength of the athlete.

She also added, "I just go there to give my best and what I will get from there I don't think that." 17-year old shooting star feels, "It's about putting in the hard work and not thinking about the medals."

Another shooter, Heena Sidhu became the first Indian double medalist at the Commonwealth Games. She clinched gold in the women's 25m pistol (with a CWG record 38) and silver in the 10m air pistol. In an exclusive interaction with WION.com, she told about her ambition to take on world champions in the future events.

Heena said that practice and hard work are the most necessary elements before entering such big events. She further added, "We realise our mistakes from every match and we work on it and we hope that in next match we will be able to deliver better results."

Heena revealed her plans to take on the world champions and said she is "working on it," she further added, "It is about how you are improving every day, and if you are improving every day it means you are on the right track."

She also mentioned, "With all these medals we now feel confident in going into an important year with ASIAN games and World Championship."

Confident double medallist Heena said, "We have learned a lot of lessons, we have done few things right and few things wrong and as an athlete, we know where we went wrong."

The shooting contingent stole the show by creating some game records. Sanjeev Rajput, who won the gold medal in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event with a games record said, " changing colour of the medal was the motive."

He talked about the struggles that he had made since 2006 when won the bronze medal in the Men's 50m Rifle Prone at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Also at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Sanjeev won a silver medal.

He also mentioned how he prepared to convert his bronze medal to silver and silver to gold.