Sports India

Indian sports is in a daze, as Indian shooting fires away.

We have two world champions in Abhinav Bindra and Manavjit Singh Sandhu, crowned in a space of four days, when Indian shooting could not boast of even one in the last 58 years of its independent existence.

From the days of Maharaja Karni Singh winning the trap silver in the World championship at Cairo in 1962, Indian shooting has indeed come a long way.

Till the shotgun World championship at Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2003, Indian shooting had only four medals to show, including two at the junior level — a gold from Jaspal Rana in 1994 and a bronze by Rajkumari Dhodiya in 2002.

Of course, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won the bronze in the World championship, has gone on to become an Olympic silver medallist. He has perhaps further ignited the spirit of excellence among the fraternity.

India got some more medals from the World Championships in Croatia, and this time, it’s the men who have won a silver in the team event in trap.

The individual events are going on at present while Rajyavardhan Rathore double trap event is later this week.

India’s silver medal winning team in men’s trap consists of Manavjit Singh, Mansher Singh and Answar Sultan. The medal on Thursday takes India’s tally to five.

The only individual winner in the senior category with his gold in the air rifle event was Abhinav Bindra.

India’s Navnath Farthate won the gold medal in junior men’s air rifle event at the World Shooting Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, on Tuesday. He shot 596 out of 600 to become the second Indian junior ever to win a gold medal at the quadrennial event.

Jaspal Rana had won the gold as a junior in standard pistol in 1994.

This is India’s second gold in the championship after Abhinav Bindra won the 10m air rifle event on Monday.

India also won two bronze medals and two Olympic quota places so far from the ongoing championship.

Meanwhile, India’s up-and-coming shooter Avneet Kaur Sidhu earned an Olympic quota place despite finishing eighth in 10m Air Rifle women’s event at the ISSF World Shooting Championships in Zagreb.

Avneet recovered from a shaky start in the qualification round to fire three perfect 100s and tally 397 which earned her a chance to compete in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. In the final, she shot a score of 101.1 for a final tally of 498.1.

Avneet thus brought up India’s sixth quota place for the Beijing Olympics, with Rajyavardhan Rathore, Gagan Narang, Manavjit Sandhu, Anjali Bhagwat and Abhinav Bindra having also booked their places.

Tejaswini Sawant finished 23rd with a score of 394 while Deepali Deshpande was a distant 70th with a total of 390.

Du Li of China won the gold after managing 502.1 (398+104.1) while the silver was grabbed by former World champion Katerina Kurkova of the Czech Republic with a score of 501.8 (398+103.8). Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan got the bronze, tallying 500.9 (398+102.9).

Indian goldfingers are certainly on a roll. The latest confirmation comes from Abhinav Bindra who grabbed the gold medal in the men’s 10m air rifle at the 49th World Shooting Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Bindra traded the leading position five times before beating stiff competition to take the first spot.

The nearest Indian shooters had come to hitting bull’s eye in the World Championship was in 1962 when Maharaja Karni Singh won the silver at Cairo. It wasn’t until Jaspal Rana won India’s first individual gold medal at the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994, that the country’s ambitions were triggered, and Indians started confidently talking about winning medals. But alas, there doesn’t seem to be any support or sponsorship to match that confidence. Indian shooters clearly need to get more exposure and more competition. While in other nations a shooter takes part in scores of competitions each year, only a couple of competitions are organised here. In fact, if not for the backing of the Army, it’s doubtful if even Rajyavardhan Rathore could have done so well at the top level. India is yet to have a coach, and most of the time shooters fend for themselves in getting cartridges and other accessories. A national camp in Delhi was once actually cut short, as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) didn’t have the ammunition for participants!

It’d be a shame if nothing were done about the poor state of SAI’s three ranges that cater to 16 shooting events as they could cost India medals at the next Olympics. A lot now depends on the ‘Mission Olympics’ taken up by the Army to bring in modern equipment and set up new shooting ranges with electronic targets.

Indian goldfingers are certainly on a roll. The latest confirmation comes from Abhinav Bindra who grabbed the gold medal in the men’s 10m air rifle at the 49th World Shooting Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Bindra traded the leading position five times before beating stiff competition to take the first spot.

The nearest Indian shooters had come to hitting bull’s eye in the World Championship was in 1962 when Maharaja Karni Singh won the silver at Cairo. It wasn’t until Jaspal Rana won India’s first individual gold medal at the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994, that the country’s ambitions were triggered, and Indians started confidently talking about winning medals. But alas, there doesn’t seem to be any support or sponsorship to match that confidence. Indian shooters clearly need to get more exposure and more competition. While in other nations a shooter takes part in scores of competitions each year, only a couple of competitions are organised here. In fact, if not for the backing of the Army, it’s doubtful if even Rajyavardhan Rathore could have done so well at the top level. India is yet to have a coach, and most of the time shooters fend for themselves in getting cartridges and other accessories. A national camp in Delhi was once actually cut short, as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) didn’t have the ammunition for participants!

It’d be a shame if nothing were done about the poor state of SAI’s three ranges that cater to 16 shooting events as they could cost India medals at the next Olympics. A lot now depends on the ‘Mission Olympics’ taken up by the Army to bring in modern equipment and set up new shooting ranges with electronic targets.

India’s upcoming shooter Avneet Kaur Sidhu earned an Olympic quota place despite finishing eighth in 10m Air Rifle women’s event at the ISSF World Shooting Championships at Zagreb.

Avneet recovered from a shaky start in the qualification to fire three perfect 100 and tally 397 which earned her a chance to compete in Bejing Olympics in 2008.

In the finals, she shot a score of 101.1 for a final tally of 498.1.

Avneet thus brought up India’s sixth quota place for the Beijing Olympics with Rajyavardhan Rathore, Gagan Narang, Manavjit Sandhu, Anjali Bhagwat and Abhinav Bindra having also booked their places.

Tejaswini Sawant finished 23rd with a score of 394 while Deepali Deshpande was a distant 70th with a total of 390.

Du Li of China won the gold after managing 502.1 (398+104.1) while the silver was grabbed by former World Champion Katerina Kurkova of CZE with a score of 501.8
(398+103.8) Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan got the bronze with 500.9 (398+102.9).

In the team event, India finished fourth with a tally of 1181. The gold in the team event went to Germany (1192) while China bagged the silver (1190). Russia, who had six points more than India, finished third.

New Delhi, May 25: Ace marksman Rajyavardhan Rathore might have won himself an Olympic quota berth by winning the ISSF double-trap world championship in Cairo, but the Olympic silver medallist did not have such a happy homecoming.

Rathore lost his prized Perazzi gun after the airline on which he was travelling from Cairo to Delhi misplaced the weapon.

A gun is not normal baggage. Losing a gun at an airport means it is a security issue,” Rathore said.

“It’s strange for the airlines to say they don’t know where the gun is, because all baggage is tagged and computerised and can be traced.”

Incidentally, ten days ago, trap shooter Ronjan Birendeep Sodhi too lost his gun while travelling on the very same airline and is still to locate it.

The loss of the gun has put a dampner on Rathore’s preparation and participation in the ISSF World Cup in Germany from June 11.

With the coveted World Shooting Championship starting July, Rathore will need to adjust to his new gun quickly.

“It’s like a fingerprint, no gun is exactly the same as the other. In any case, I came from Cairo to take a break, and I don’t have the time to run around.”

Rathore will begin the documentation work for the import license of the new weapon tomorrow a process that could take up to a month. Clearance for the import will cost about Rs four lakh.

“Thankfully, the manufacturer has two guns with the same specifications in store,” Rathore said.

New Delhi, May 25: Ace marksman Rajyavardhan Rathore might have won himself an Olympic quota berth by winning the ISSF double-trap world championship in Cairo, but the Olympic silver medallist did not have such a happy homecoming.

Rathore lost his prized Perazzi gun after the airline on which he was travelling from Cairo to Delhi misplaced the weapon.

“A gun is not normal baggage. Losing a gun at an airport means it is a security issue,” Rathore said.

“It’s strange for the airlines to say they don’t know where the gun is, because all baggage is tagged and computerised and can be traced.”

Incidentally, ten days ago, trap shooter Ronjan Birendeep Sodhi too lost his gun while travelling on the very same airline and is still to locate it.

The loss of the gun has put a dampner on Rathore’s preparation and participation in the ISSF World Cup in Germany from June 11.

With the coveted World Shooting Championship starting July, Rathore will need to adjust to his new gun quickly.

“It’s like a fingerprint, no gun is exactly the same as the other. In any case, I came from Cairo to take a break, and I don’t have the time to run around.”

Rathore will begin the documentation work for the import license of the new weapon tomorrow a process that could take up to a month. Clearance for the import will cost about Rs four lakh.

“Thankfully, the manufacturer has two guns with the same specifications in store,” Rathore said.

New Delhi, May 25: Ace marksman Rajyavardhan Rathore might have won himself an Olympic quota berth by winning the ISSF double-trap world championship in Cairo, but the Olympic silver medallist did not have such a happy homecoming.

Rathore lost his prized Perazzi gun after the airline on which he was travelling from Cairo to Delhi misplaced the weapon.

“A gun is not normal baggage. Losing a gun at an airport means it is a security issue,” Rathore said.

“It’s strange for the airlines to say they don’t know where the gun is, because all baggage is tagged and computerised and can be traced.”

Incidentally, ten days ago, trap shooter Ronjan Birendeep Sodhi too lost his gun while travelling on the very same airline and is still to locate it.

The loss of the gun has put a dampner on Rathore’s preparation and participation in the ISSF World Cup in Germany from June 11.

With the coveted World Shooting Championship starting July, Rathore will need to adjust to his new gun quickly.

“It’s like a fingerprint, no gun is exactly the same as the other. In any case, I came from Cairo to take a break, and I don’t have the time to run around.”

Rathore will begin the documentation work for the import license of the new weapon tomorrow a process that could take up to a month. Clearance for the import will cost about Rs four lakh.

“Thankfully, the manufacturer has two guns with the same specifications in store,” Rathore said.

New Delhi, May 25: Ace marksman Rajyavardhan Rathore might have won himself an Olympic quota berth by winning the ISSF double-trap world championship in Cairo, but the Olympic silver medallist did not have such a happy homecoming.

Rathore lost his prized Perazzi gun after the airline on which he was travelling from Cairo to Delhi misplaced the weapon.

“A gun is not normal baggage. Losing a gun at an airport means it is a security issue,” Rathore said.

“It’s strange for the airlines to say they don’t know where the gun is, because all baggage is tagged and computerised and can be traced.”

Incidentally, ten days ago, trap shooter Ronjan Birendeep Sodhi too lost his gun while travelling on the very same airline and is still to locate it.

The loss of the gun has put a dampner on Rathore’s preparation and participation in the ISSF World Cup in Germany from June 11.

With the coveted World Shooting Championship starting July, Rathore will need to adjust to his new gun quickly.

“It’s like a fingerprint, no gun is exactly the same as the other. In any case, I came from Cairo to take a break, and I don’t have the time to run around.”

Rathore will begin the documentation work for the import license of the new weapon tomorrow a process that could take up to a month. Clearance for the import will cost about Rs four lakh.

“Thankfully, the manufacturer has two guns with the same specifications in store,” Rathore said.