Abhinav Bindra, others mourn death of former India shooter Pournima Zanane after her battle with cancer
The shooting fraternity, including Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, mourn the untimely death of cancer-stricken former India shooter Pournima Zanane. She died aged 42.
Pournima Zanane , Joydeep Karmakar OLY Twitter handle
The shooting fraternity, including Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, mourn the untimely death of cancer-stricken former India shooter Pournima Zanane. She died aged 42.
Zanane had been suffering from cancer for the past two years. According to ex-India rifleman Joydeep Karmakar, she had almost recovered after receiving treatment.
The International Shooting Sport Federation-licenced coach had represented India at multiple ISSF World Cups, Asian Championships, Commonwealth Championships, among others.
Zanane was also a national record holder in the 10m air rifle event. She took to coaching and was honoured with the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports award by the Maharashtra government.
The Nanded born shooter, who was diagnosed with cancer during the Nationals in Kerala two years ago, had started her career in Mumbai before shifting base to Pune.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) sent out a condolence message after she succumbed to the dreaded disease. "The National Rifle Association of India condoles the untimely sad demise of our international shooter and a coach - Ms Pournima Chinmoy Zanane, at a very young age.
"Ms Pournima Zanane was an Air Rifle shooter and took part in many international competitions as Pournima Gawahne. At a later stage, she started coaching shooters and also coached the Sri Lankan team," the sport's apex body in the country said in a statement.
Beijing Games gold medallist Bindra said the shooter will be greatly missed.
"RIP Pournima. You will be greatly missed," Bindra wrote on his twitter handle.