Too Many Tournaments May Lead To Burnout, Says Shooter Sift Kaur

Sift Kaur Samra squeezed in a 21-day break between the National Championships and the ongoing National Games.

- Avishek Roy

DEHRADUN: Sift Kaur Samra squeezed in a 21-day break between the National Championships and the ongoing National Games.

It is the longest stretch she has spent at home since breaking into the Indian junior team four years ago. The workload that India's top shooters have to manage means Sift has to appear in all the selection trials and domestic competitions to confirm her spot in the national team.

After coming from the Paris Olympics, Sift says she straightaway went into training for the state championships followed by the nationals in December.

"After the nationals I went home, from January 1 to 20th. You can't imagine that it was the first time since I started the game that I took a 20-21 days continuous break," Sift told HT.

The 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games gold medallist has been India's most consistent performer in 50m rifle three positions. She won the Asian Games title with a world record score of 469.6 in the final. At the Paris Olympics though she failed to make the final, finishing 31st in qualification. The performance has made her think a lot about her shooting and how she wants to approach the new Olympic cycle.