Shooting as a sport catching up with the youngsters
At the recently held 14th All India Kumar Surendra Singh Shooting Championship, over 1,000 young shooters from 19 states participated. Such small stepping stones may give India few more 'shooting stars' in future.
A DECADE back very few people knew about shooting as a sport in India. But, thanks to Jaspal Rana, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Abhinav Bindra, whose continuing victories in different international championships including Olympics, has brought the sport to the notice of the public. More and more people now are aware and aspire to become successful shooters. With India grabbing the second spot in the CWG and a major chunk of medals coming from shooting, one thing is for sure, the golden phase of shooting as a sport in the country has begun.
More so, when we have such talented star shooters like Gagan Narang, Anisa Sayyed, Annu Raj Singh, Heena Sidhu, Rahi Sarnobat and Deepak Sharma – to name a few – who gave shooting a new dimension with their incredible performances in the games.
It rather is a coincidence that Rattan Convent School in Seekri village near Faridabad, Haryana, hosted the 14th All India Kumar Surendra Singh Shooting Championship, where over 1,000 young promising shooters from 19 states participated with great zeal and fervor.
Organised by National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the event, an inter-school one, received an overwhelming number of entries and responses. It not only took the organizers by surprise but the whole country too.
Deep Bhatia, a senior NRAI official said, “We didn’t expect the entries to cross the 1000-mark but it is good for the sport that so many people are taking interest in it.” Declared open by Balram Jakhar, former Lok Sabha speaker, the 5-day-long event also had special invitees, like Anisa Sayyed, Annu Raj Singh and Deepak Sharma, who were felicitated by Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, also the Chief Guest, for their remarkable medal victories in the Delhi CWG. Speaking on its inaugural day, Jakhar said, “This is a good opportunity for youngsters to display their talent and it is places like these where the future is groomed and we find our heroes who will represent the country.”
Hooda praised the efforts of the host school in promoting the shooting. He said, “We are proud that shooters played a great role in elevating the stature of our country. I am sure with this school-level competition we’ll discover more potentials in coming years.” Summing up his speech, Hooda re-affirmed his stand to pay Rs 2 lakhs to each CWG participating players of the state whereas Rs 15 lakhs and an SX-4 car to each gold medalist.
The competition, however, saw children only participating in the 10m air pistol and rifle events, as according to the organizers, fire arms were not allowed in school competitions. As for the participants, it was a stepping-stone to the big arena and a platform to follow the stalwarts of the sport. Sudeep, a participant from Uttarakhand said, “I wanted to win here and won, and now I want to represent the nation.”
Hooda praised the efforts of the host school in promoting the shooting. He said, “We are proud that shooters played a great role in elevating the stature of our country. I am sure with this school-level competition we’ll discover more potentials in coming years.” Summing up his speech, Hooda re-affirmed his stand to pay Rs 2 lakhs to each CWG participating players of the state whereas Rs 15 lakhs and an SX-4 car to each gold medalist.
The competition, however, saw children only participating in the 10m air pistol and rifle events, as according to the organizers, fire arms were not allowed in school competitions. As for the participants, it was a stepping-stone to the big arena and a platform to follow the stalwarts of the sport. Sudeep, a participant from Uttarakhand said, “I wanted to win here and won, and now I want to represent the nation.”
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