New Delhi, Jun 22 (IANS): 2008 Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra led the way as shooting fraternity paid homage to former India shooter Pournima Zanane who passed away recently after a hard-fought battle with cancer.

The 42-year-old, who was a national record holder in 10m air rifle event, represented the country at multiple ISSF World Cups, Asian Championships and other events. Later on after retiring in 2012, she took to coaching and was also honoured with the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports award by the Maharashtra government.

"Deeply shocked and distressed by the news of untimely demise of an old friend Pournima Zanane. She was an international shooter and ISSF coach. Our friendship goes back to junior team days.. But we will meet someday, somewhere again," said veteran shooter Joydeep Karmakar on Twitter.

"RIP Pournima. You will be greatly missed," said Bindra while responding to Rana's tweet.

"We cannot believe that you are no longer with us. This is a tragedy for us, we will pray for you dear friend Pournima Zanane. Rest in peace," said Jaspal Rana.

Former Indian shooter Suma Shirur said: "Pournima Zanane's untimely departure from the world is very sad news. As a colleague & competitor, her energy & enthusiasm to do things despite a prolonged illness will always be remembered! My teammate in the Railways,we won many medals together both national & international."