Anjali Bhagwat (born 5 December 1969) is a professional Indian

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

. She became the World Number One in 10m Air Rifle in 2002. She also won her first World Cup Final in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, in 2003, with a score of 399/400. Anjali won the ISSF Champion of Champions award and is the only Indian to win the ISSF Champions' Trophy in

Air Rifle An air gun or airgun is a gun that uses energy from compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized and then released to propel and accelerate projectiles, similar to the principle of the primitive blowgun. This is in contr ...

Men & Women mixed event at

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in 2002. She has represented India in three consecutive

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, and was a finalist in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, a first for any Indian women shooter and also the first Indian athlete to make an Olympic final since P.T. Usha in 1984. She has won 12 gold and 4 silver medals in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

and Commonwealth Shooting Championships. She is a Commonwealth record holder in 10m Air Rifle and Sports Rifle 3P. In the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, Bhagwat created history by becoming the first Indian woman shooter to get gold and a silver medal in the Sports 3P and

events respectively. To date, she has won 31 Gold, 23 Silver and 7 Bronze medals. She has set 13 new records in international competitions and has won 55 Gold, 35 Silver and 16 Bronze medals, with 8 new records in national competitions in India.

Early life

Anjali Ramakant Vedpathak was born on 5 December 1969, in a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

family in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Inspired by the legendary athlete

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. Lewis was a dominant sprinter and lo ...

, Bhagwat developed an interest in sports. Her first brush with shooting occurred during her stint as a cadet in the National Cadet Corps (NCC). A student of

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

and advanced mountaineering, Bhagwat was very much attracted to NCC. She joined Kirti College in

mainly due to its close affinity with the NCC. As a part of her curriculum she got into MRA (Maharashtra Rifle Association). She started shooting at the age of 21 and within 7 days of holding a gun, she took part in the National Championship of 1988, winning a silver medal for

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

in the process.

Career

Sanjay Chakravarthy was her first coach. She credits him for her strong fundamentals and basics; instilled over a period of over 5 years. She turned pro when she first participated in the

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in 1988. She won Silver for her state and continues to play for the

team. Her tally of 55 Gold, 35 Silver and 16 Bronze medals in domestic Competitions is unbeaten. She participated in her first international event in 1995, in the SAF games. Her first international Gold winning performance was in the Commonwealth Championship in Auckland in 1999, where she won 3 Gold medals and a silver medal in

, 3P individual and the team event. She is the only woman to have won the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

for

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She considers her rival Galkina Lioubov (Russia) as an idol competitor. In December 1999, she started training under Laszlo Szucsak, the then coach for the Indian Shooting Team. Bhagwat had personally approached Laszlo after watching his work with the Malaysian Shooting squad. The Hungarian remained with the team for a year during which Bhagwat earned a wild card entry in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she went on to become one of the finalists. From 2001 to 2004, Bhagwat trained without a coach, and still managed to become World Number One in 2002. During the year 2006, Laszlo re-joined the national shooting squad as the team Coach, and Bhagwat trained with him till 2008. In the year 2008, Stanislav Lapidus was appointed the coach by the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA, sometimes Second INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Empire of Japan, Japanese-allied and -supported armed force constituted in Southeast Asia during World War II and led by Indian Nationalism#An ...

for the national squad. Many stalwarts of the sport of shooting often rate

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

higher than the

. Bhagwat has ranked her victory as the Champions of Champions in 2002 as the best moment in her career. She still remains the only Indian to have ever won the title.

Competitions

Equipment and sponsors

Bhagwat uses a

Feinwerkbau Feinwerkbau , often abbreviated FWB, is a German manufacturer of firearms and air guns aimed mainly at competitive ISSF shooting events, including some contested at the Olympic Games as governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF ...

, a German-made rifle for her

events. For 10m she prefers a

while for 50m she uses a .22

Walther Walther () is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a German form of Walter, which is derived from the Old High German '' Walthari'', containing the elements ''wald'' -"power", "brightness" or "forest" and ''hari'' -"warrior". The name was ...

. Bhagwat's first kit was gifted to her by

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actor and a fellow shooter,

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, film maker, mainly working in Hindi language, Hindi and Marathi language, Marathi cinema. Widely regarded as one of the finest and most influential actors ...

in 1993. She was officially sponsored by the Hinduja Foundation in 2000, and later by the Mittal Champions Trust in 2008. Hyundai Corporation also supported her training prior to 2004.

Awards

Rajiv Gandhi Khel-Ratna (2003)
Arjuna Award (2000) *1992:Shree Shiv Chattrapati Award *1993:Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar *1993:Vasantrav Naik Pratishthan Puraskar *2002:Indo-American Society Young Achiever award *2003:Times Group Maharashtra Shaan *2003:Hero Indian Sports Award -Best sportswoman *2003:HISA Sports Woman of the year *2003:HISA Shooter of the year *2004:HISA Shooter of the year *2005:GR8 women achievers award *2005:Teacher's achievement award *2006:F I E Foundation National award

Personal life

Bhagwat has two siblings; a younger brother Rahul and an elder sister Neena. She is a

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

enthusiast.

Yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

and

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

form a large part of her daily routine. Her mother sang for AIR (All India Radio) while her sister is a singer too. An avid reader, she enjoys fiction. In December 2000, she married Mumbai-based businessman, Mandar Bhagwat. The couple has a son named Aaradhya born in 2010. In 2006, she shifted her base from

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

due city's better sporting facilities. Bhagwat is currently coaching six shooters in Pune, for which she also utilizes her own range. The 10m range is a part of her house and she usually practises there.

In popular culture

She has promoted sports through associations with

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

and Reliance. Bhagwat was vastly appreciated for her participation in India's bid for hosting Commonwealth Games 2010 alongside sporting legends like

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ born 10 July 1949), is a former captain of the Indian national cricket team who represented India national cricket team, India and Mumbai crick ...

. Bhagwat was a part of the Bournvita Quiz Contest as a special guest. She was also a part of the expert panel on

CNN-IBN CNN News18 is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides international coverage for the c ...

during the

in 2006 and 2010. She featured in the Hero Honda Sports Awards, 2007 where she sang and danced impromptu with former Indian cricketers

Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is an Indian former international International cricket, cricketer, who played for India national cricket team, India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai cricket team, Mumbai and Bo ...

and Ajay Jadeja. She has also been the subject of inspiration for many including a noted writer and columnist,

Shobha De Shobha De (''née'' Rajadhyaksha, formerly Kilachand; born 7 January 1948) is an Indian novelist and columnist. She is best known for her depiction of socialites and sex in her works of fiction, for which she has been referred to as the "Jackie ...

, who dedicated her column to Bhagwat after their interaction at an award ceremony. She has been on the government selection panel for some of the top notch sports award, both on state & national level such as Shiv Chatrapati Award, Arjuna Award and Dronacharaya Award. Apart from this she has done a guest appearance in Marathi film '' Bokya Satbande''. She has walked ramp twice for fashion designer Vikram Phadnis. She has been teaching blind students. She regularly writes for different newspaper and magazines.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhagwat, Anjali Living people Indian female sport shooters ISSF rifle shooters Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award Olympic shooters for India Shooters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Arjuna Award 1969 births Asian Games medalists in shooting Marathi sportspeople Shooters at the 1998 Asian Games Shooters at the 2002 Asian Games Shooters at the 2006 Asian Games Shooters at the 2014 Asian Games Sport shooters from Mumbai Sportswomen from Maharashtra Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Commonwealth Games gold medallists in shooting Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Commonwealth Games silver medallists in shooting 20th-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Asian Games silver medalists for India Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Shooters at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games