Crack Shots Sow And Reap

An inherited impulse channeled into sport has seen western UP emerge as the nursery of Indian shooting

- Qaiser Mohammad Ali in Baghpat and Meerut

MORNING shows the day, albeit symbolically at times. Ace rifle shooter Ravi Kumar, who opened India’s medal account at the just-concluded Asian Games, was obsessed with playing marbles and plying the handmade catapult that he used for killing birds. But one day, after his angry father destroyed a large earthen pot full of marbles the boy had won, an obstinate Ravi would only agree to go a rung up in shooting. The sceptical parents initially resisted the demand for a gun, but finally indulgence won over; they took a huge loan to buy the first gun for their only son. The rest can be counted in bulls eyes.

A solitary story of a village boy who went on to achieve internatio­nal laurels in the precision sport of shooting? Not quite. It holds true for many households in several districts of western Uttar Pra­desh that have produced prodigies in recent years. The frequency only seems to have increased, as proven by 16­year­old Saurabh Chaudhary, Shardul Vihan, 15, and Shapath Bharadwaj, also 15. The teenagers have set the bleachers ablaze. And there are more prodi­gies waiting in the wings, eager to take flight.

Saurabh, who had broken the world record on his way to gold at the Junior World Cup in Germany, became the toast of India after creating a titanic upset at the Asian Games. Based in Kalina village of Meerut district, he clinched the 10m air pistol gold, shocking a rich field of world and Olympic champions.

Shardul’s upset silver­winning perfor­mance in the demanding double trap event was no less creditable. The supre­mely confident Meerut boy, who switched from cricket to badminton and finally to shooting in the past couple of years, came out with his gun blazing to beat a roster comprising competitors double his age.