The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Chance for youngsters to vie with the top guns

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Chance for youngsters to vie with the top guns

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has extended support to a new competition — TopGun Shooting series — which will kick start with a double trap competition on July 2 at the Dr. Karni Singh range in Tughlakabad.

The event, supported by skeet shooter Naveen Jindal M.P. and called OP Jindal memorial, will give a chance for college students among others to compete with leading stars like Rathore on a new format in which there will be a compere explaining the status to the spectators during the final in a couple of 30-second breaks.

"The event is an experiment. The idea is to have more visibility. We will perform the best in shooting in the 2008 Olympics and it is good to increase the awareness of the public in this sport. The attempt is to bring the sport to the masses, make it more popular and attract youngsters towards it,'' said Rathore.

Touching on the subject of import restrictions, Naveen Jindal compared the situation in Europe where anyone can walk into a range, hire a gun, buy ammunition and shoot, to the conditions in India.

He hoped that the new sports minister would continue the good work done by the late Sunil Dutt.

Training hard

Rathore said he was gearing up for the challenges and was not too bothered by the below par performances in competitions so far with his new gun.

"Had I been winning, I would have relaxed. I enjoy it when pushed to a corner. Next year is very important as we have the Commonwealth Games, the World Championship, the Asian Games and the World Cup series offering Olympic quota places. I am training six days a week and twice a day. Nobody can beat me in hard work," said Rathore.

Stating that he was 95 per cent aware of what needs to be done and that he had to spend time with his new gun in competition, Rathore said he would approach coaches Russell Mark, Luca Marini and Marcello Dradi when the situation demanded.

Pointing to the tremendous impact made by the Chinese this season, Rathore said that the Chinese were preparing for the 2008 Beijing Games on a war footing.

"The Chinese have 50 shooters in each event, and they have 26 new ranges in 26 cities. They are pushed by a system, and we are pushing ourselves with motivation,'' said Rathore.

There are two more World Cups for Rathore this season and he would love to compete with the best in the business if he qualifies for the World Cup final.

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