Commonwealth Games 2018: Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu peaking at right time, reckons Anjali Bhagwat

Kolkata: Former World No 1 Anjali Bhagwat on Wednesday said pistol shooter Heena Sidhu is peaking at the right the time ahead of the next year’s Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. The two-time Olympian Heena clinched the women’s air pistol at the Commonwealth Shooting championships in Brisbane to add to her three gold medals in the mixed air pistol, including the World Cup Final last week. [caption id=“attachment_2600950” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Heena Sindhu. Twitter/@ISSF_Shooting[/caption] “She is peaking up at the right time. She is currently preparing for the Commonwealth Games. She is number one in India currently and among the world’s top,” Anjali said on the sidelines of the RP-SG Indian Sports Honours jury announcement in Kolkata. “She is a brilliant shooter, she has established that and she’s showing her consistency. Winning the Commonwealth Championship along with the World Cup final is a great performance. I’m looking for a great show from her at the Commonwealth Games,” said Anjali. She said awards are needed to motivate the athletes. “It’s not just award but a token of love and appreciation from the society,” Anjali said. The jury is chaired by former all-England champion and chief national badminton coach Puellela Gopichand. The other members of the jury are multiple tennis Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi, legendary sprinter PT Usha and former hockey captain Arjun Halappa. “I hope these awards will inspire a huge number of people, and also the junior scholarship programme which is there will definitely help a lot of us to get into the sporting nation of the world,” Gopichand said. “In the last few years sports has taken a centrestage more than in the past. I’m sure awards like these will actually provide the much-needed inspiration, motivation and support which all of us need in the sporting fraternity,” he said. Terming this an “authentic” sports award, Bhupathi said: “Having an award at the end of a season not only inspires youth but recognises the past players. It’s exciting to have an authentic sport award in the country. It will definitely create an aspiration to achieve more.” The members of the jury also unveiled the trophy which will be handed over to the winners during the inaugural awards ceremony in Mumbai on November 11. Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli through his foundation and city industrialist Sanjiv Goenka have come together to create this platform to honour exceptional sport performances of the country.