Commonwealth Games 2018: For teen starlet Mehuli Ghosh, life was no bed of roses

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For debutant Mehuli Ghosh, life was not a bed of roses. As a 13-year-old, the world came crashing around her after she was suspended from the rifle club when one of her pellets hit a spectator. As she plunged into depression, her parents took her to several counselling sessions. On Monday, five years after that episode, Ghosh went on to win the silver medal in women's 10m Air Rifle final in Commonwealth Games at Gold coast. 

The 17-year-old has been in terrific form since winning eight gold medals at the 61st National Shooting Championship Competitions in New Delhi in December 2017.

Hailing from West Bengal's Baidyabati, a little town around 30 km from Kolkata, Ghosh's parents saved all their earnings for the daughter's training. Her father, a non-permanent government worker, struggled to make ends meet. 

She later enrolled into Indian Olympian and Arjuna Awardee shooter Joydeep Karmarkar's academy.

In 2016, Ghosh won two medals in the Nationals, and eight medals the following her. 

Her first international win came with a gold medal in the youth category of the Asian Airgun Championships in Japan. In 2018, she went finished third in the 10m Air Rifle at the ISSF World Cup in Mexico. She later also paired up with Deepak Kumar in the mixed team event to secure her second bronze in the same tournament.

On Day 5 of the 21st Commonwealth Games, Indian shooters Mehuli Ghosh and Apurvi Chandela bagged silver and bronze respectively in the women`s 10m Air Rifle.

Ghosh lost to eventual champions Martina Lindsay of Singapore in the shoot-off after both were tied at a CWG record score of 247.2 in the final. In the shoot-off, Ghosh scored 9.9 while Martina shot 10.3. Apurvi, the defending champion, got the bronze with 225.3. Ghosh was trailing Veloso till the last shot in the final. But she ensured some late drama by scoring 10.9 with her last shot to take the issue into the shoot-off.

Earlier, Apurvi set a new CWG record of 423.2 to clinch the top spot in the qualifying stage. She beat her own previous CWG record of 415.6 which was set at the 2014 edition in Glasgow, Scotland.

Ghosh registered 413.7 to finish fifth in the qualification stage.

With IANS inputs