Tejaswini Sawant, Jwala Gutta `extremely happy`

Kolhapur: India’s first woman world champion shooter Tejaswini Sawant, who has been recommended for the prestigious Arjuna award, has said that she was happy for the acknowledgement of her achievements.

“I am extremely happy that my name has been declared because obviously we feel happy when our achievements are noticed. So, I am happy that my name has been declared for Arjuna awards,” Sawant said. Sawant was the first Indian woman shooter to win a gold medal at the World Championships with a world-record equalling score in the 50 m Rifle Prone event. She had also won a bronze medal in 50 metre rifle three positions at the 2009 ISSF World Cup in Munich. In August 2010, she became the world champion in the 50m Rifle Prone event in Munich, Germany. Co-recommended for the Arjuna award, badminton player Jwala Gutta said that she had to fight many obstacles to achieve the merit, adding that the honour would be a positive influence on her. “I think it’s been a fight. I had to struggle lot for my rights. I think it is fruit reaped of my hard work, and it’s a very sweet fruit that we have got,” Gutta said. “There was pressure along with controversies. It is a very positive occasion, I don’t think it will have any negative impact on me. So, it’s just going to motivate me more and more and I am sure I will do a lot better and better,” she added. Along with Sawant and Gutta, cricketer Zaheer Khan, football skipper Sunil Chettri, tennis star Somdev Devvarman, boxer Suranjoy Singh, discus thrower Vikas Gowda, long-distance runner Preeja Sreedharan, wushu player Sandhya Rani, archer Rahul Banerjee and gymnast Ashish Kumar were recommended for the Arjuna award. Bureau Report