Shooting
With visualization and a new event, Tilottama Sen sets sight on LA 2028
After failing to making the Paris cut, the teenager has shifted focus to 50m rifle 3 positions and the 10m air rifle.
With her eyes set on next year’s Asian Games and thereafter, the LA Olympics, Tilottama Sen is now focusing on strengthening her base. (Photo Credit: Ritu Sejwal/ The Bridge)
Tilottama Sen was the slowest among the 50m rifle 3 position finalists during the changeover phase at the Khelo India Youth Games on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old, participating in a new event - women’s 50m rifle 3 position, is still getting acclimatized to the time allotted for transitioning to the next position, preparing the rifle, and taking sighting shots.
“This was my first 50m final. I was confident that I was going to play well but I did not think about a medal. The transition is difficult. I have just started so I am still trying to set all my positions, it’s taking a little bit of time. But I am getting used to it,” Tilottama told The Bridge after winning a silver medal.
In the 50m rifle 3 positions final, participants fire 15 shots in three different positions, kneeling, prone and standing, and the changeover time between kneeling and prone is 7 minutes, and 9 minutes between prone and standing.
“I didn’t know how to play the final. I got to know the changeover rules just before the final. I had trained just 3 days before the competition. There was little expectation from the standing position, especially the last 5 shots. But apart from that I have done a good job,” a confident Tilottama said.
Shifting focus
In 2023, Tilottama became the youngest Indian to win a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women’s 10m air rifle event. She had won a silver medal at the Asian Shooting Championship at Changwon in South Korea.
She, however, could not compete at the Summer Games as other shooters pipped her in the final selection trials in Bhopal.
#News | "For the first couple of days I did not speak to anybody💔"
— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) May 6, 2025
Tilottama Sen had won a quota place for India at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She, however, could not compete at the Games as others pipped her in the final selection trials☹️
The 17-year-old Sen is now back in… pic.twitter.com/a2qqsY7s37
“After the trials, I came back and asked myself ‘Did I give my best?’ And the answer was yes. I was unhappy that I missed the Games but I am getting better. A lot of support has come from home. I was in a really bad state. The first couple of weeks, I did not speak to anybody. Slowly my parents told me you cannot stop shooting. If you do that you will never go to the Olympics.
“That (not getting selected for the Olympics) was another reason I started 50m, to shift my focus from 10m and that I start enjoying the sport like I used to. I did not feel like playing 10m,” Tilottama said.
With her eyes set on next year’s Asian Games, Tilottama is now focusing on strengthening her base. Also, imagining her events a day before helps her keep calm on the day of the event.
“If the qualification is tomorrow, I prepare my whole event a day before in my mind, from entering the arena to keeping my things and how I shoot. I imagine it all. The next day I do exactly as I had imagined, keep my things in exactly the same place,” Tilottama, who likes to unwind with drawing and painting on her rest days, shared.
“I have one whole year to prepare, I am working on strengthening my base. A medal in my first 50m final will definitely boost my confidence. We have the Asian Games next year. I missed the 2022 Asian Games due to limited quota places. In the next 2-3 years, I will do both 50m and 10m and hopefully go to 2028 LA in both events,” a confident Tilottama signed off.
