Mother, a bedrock of support for the champion

Sometimes, the mother knows best. And there is no better person to vouch for this idiom, at the moment, than the newly crowned shooting world champion, Tejaswini Sawant.

Tejaswini undoubtedly deserves all the accolades she gets for the title-winning performance in Germany, but had it not been for a firm stand taken by her mother, Sunita, about six years ago, the Kolhapur shooter would have quit the game and taken up employment in a private firm to supplement the family income.

"Our financial condition was not so strong that we could have taken the load of expenses required for shooting," admitted Sunita on Sunday evening, as she juggled between congratulatory telephone calls and television interviews at her residence.

The facilities, or the lack of it, in Kolhapur were also a hindrance.

The Dudhali shooting range, which hosts the state government's Krida Prabodhini Centre, had no changing rooms for women shooters and the facilities were basic to say the least.

But Tejaswini was given the necessary support though she was not a part of Prabodhini and her mother was determined that the effort of her daughter and others should not go to waste.

“She did think of taking up a job then and leave shooting. But for me, as a mother, that was never really an option,” said Sunita.

“When they are that young, kids are not mature enough to see the big picture and sometimes base their decisions on short-term goals.”

“But Jaisingrao Kusale (the founder of the range) had told me she had the class to reach the Olympics and I was determined that she achieved that feat,” added Sunita.

Though Sunita was barely manage to exchange a congratulatory note with her daughter in Munich on Sunday, she stood vindicated that she knew what was best for her daughter.