The Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range finally opened its doors to shooters on an overcast, humid Wednesday morning. Protocols were in place, the range cleaned, swept and sanitised. It has been 106 days since the nationwide lockdown was announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic and life for all, including sportspersons, came to a standstill.
There were very few takers for the opportunity on day one as most of the elite shooters preferred to stay home and train. The range is open only for the core group of 34 probables selected by National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). Of these, only two skeet shooters—Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Sheeraz Sheikh—availed the facility with coach Vikram Chopra designated as the coordinator to assign slots for training by Sports Authority of India (SAI). The chief national coach for shotgun Mansher Singh, “unaware of training resuming”, was not present while the foreign coach Ennio Falco is back home in Italy.
Sheikh was simply happy to hold his gun and resume training again. “It just felt great. I was shooting after five months. It felt like a new start for me. Started slowly, just getting the feel back, felt like a new feeling actually altogether,” said the 31-year-old skeet shooter from Gurugram. He had been following the dry mounting programme and the physical fitness programme devised by the coaches through the lockdown. Of the four skeet shooters part of the core group selected by NRAI, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa is training at his farm house in Dera Bassi, near Chandigarh. Gurjoat Singh who is in Punjab will join at a later date.
“We both came at different times and shot 200 cartridges each. Our temperatures were checked and we did not shoot together at all,” said Sheikh adding that he had no option but to train at the range.
While shotgun and 50m air rifle shooters have to practice shooting in outdoor facilities, all other rifle and pistol shooters are mostly training at home as they have either already have a shooting range at home or have been provided with necessary equipment via sponsors or TOPS funding.
On Tuesday evening, SAI announced the opening of the national shooting range located at Tughlakabad, on the Delhi-Faridabad border. “Consequent to Unlock 2.0, with an eye on Tokyo Olympics, SAI in its endeavour to support Indian athletes for their Olympic preparation is opening Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range from July 8, 2020 for Olympic-bound shooters. In the first phase, the facility would be opened only for athletes who have a probability of making it to the Olympics and form part of the core team of Indian shooting. All precautions as per the guidelines issued by the government and the SAI SOP would be strictly adhered to at the ranges to provide a safe training environment to the shooters and maintain social-distancing norms to prevent any transmission of the virus. The shooters would have to book online training slots to avoid crowding at the range, with only single point entry to the range with adherence to thermal screening, as per the laid down procedure. The shooters would also need to download Aarogya Setu on their phone, the status of which would be checked at the entry gate.” The shooters received an email as well from ED teams saying the same.
Interestingly, the NRAI has distanced itself from this particular “training” call to its elite group of athletes. The NRAI maintains this is not a national training camp and it will take a call on the dates for the same when all its key stakeholders, including office bearers, coaches, high performance managers etc. hold a virtual meeting on July 15.
Reportedly, senior coaches clarified with NRAI on whether they have to be present during these training sessions or not. The NRAI officials told them that it is entirely their call, as far as the federation is concerned it is not calling upon its coaches or athletes to be present at the range yet. “Coaches if they are being paid by SAI have to follow SAI instructions, but NRAI has not yet asked them to resume coaching or training programmes at the range,” confirmed a senior NRAI official.
Usually, the camps are called by the concerned National Sports Federations who also inform SAI regarding the same. SAI then makes arrangements as required for the national camp. However, the Delhi High Court on June 25 ordered the Union Sports Ministry to withdraw provisional recognition granted to all NSFs for non-compliance with the National Sports Code.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had in June given “provisional annual renewal” till September to 54 NSFs. The annual recognition makes them eligible for government grants and funding for national camps and competitions.
In this scenario, SAI’s decision to call shooters for training at the range is being viewed as a unilateral call without consultations without consultations with concerned federation.
