Anjali Bhagwat Birthday Special: Some Interesting Facts About India's Famed Shooter
Bhagwat reached her career peak in 2002 when she not only won the ISS Champions’ Trophy but was also crowned the Champion of Champions, making her the only Indian to have ever won that trophy. She is a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist and holds 8 national records to her name. She also set 13 new records in international competitions.
Anjali Bhagwat celebrates her 50th birthday on December 05, 2019 (Thursday). Among India's famed shooters and one of this nation's most successful athlete, Anjali was bestowed with the Arjuna award in 2000 for her excellence in shooting and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna – India's highest sporting honour – in 2003. She remains India’s first and only female shooter to win the ISSF World Cup and is also the only Indian to have won the ISSF Champion of Champions award and the ISSF Champions Trophy in Air Rifle Men & Women Mixed event. Anjali represented India in three consecutive Olympics and was the first Indian ever to qualify for a shooting final when she reached the final at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Born in 1969 in a Marathi Deshastha family in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Bhagwat developed an interest in sports at a very young age. She idolised Carl Lewis and started shooting at the age of 21. Merely seven days after holding the gun for the first time, Anjali was taking part at the National Shooting Championship and even won a silver medal for Maharashtra in 1988. She has so far won 55 gold medals, 35 silver and 16 bronze medals so far for her state team.
- Anjali Bhagwat was born on December 3, 1969, in a Maratha Deshastha family in Mumbai, Maharashtra
- She remains the only Indian to win the ISSF champions trophy in air rifle men & women mixed event
- Bhagwat was the first Indian shooter to win a gold and silver medal in the sports 3p and air rifle events
- The Arjuna awardee's first shooting kit was gifted to her by Bollywood actor Nana Patekar in 2003
- She currently holds 13 new records in international competitions and 8 national records
- Bhagwat won the ISSF shooting world cup in 2003 making her the first and only Indian women to achieve the feat
- Anjali Bhagwat was crowned the champions of champions in 2002 and remains only Indian to win the competition
Bhagwat reached her career peak in 2002 when she not only won the ISS Champions’ Trophy but was also crowned the Champion of Champions, making her the only Indian to have ever won that trophy. She is a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist and holds 8 national records to her name. She also set 13 new records in international competitions.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 05, 2019 11:31 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).