K.S. Senthil Kumar, a Tirupur-based knitwear entrepreneur and a shooter, is in a quandary.
Certification
Though he has won many medals in shooting competitions in India and abroad and has obtained the certification of ‘renowned shot’ following his performance in the 56th National Shooting Championship last year, he is yet to be issued a double barrel breech load gun licence.
Due to the lack of the licence, Mr. Senthil has been borrowing the DBBL gun from other participants while taking part in his favourite category of trap shooting at the championships.
Application rejected
“My first application seeking DBBL licence filed at Tirupur Collectorate was rejected in 2010. The reason given was that I have a pistol licence. My pleas that I am a sportsperson who needed a DBBL gun licence also to participate in a certain category did not evoke any response as officials took the application as among one of those seeking a weapon,” Mr. Senthil said.
According to him, he appealed against the rejection with the senior revenue administration officials in Chennai in 2010 but the preliminary hearing on it was held only recently.
After getting the ‘renowned shot’ certification, he once again applied for the licence at the Collectorate which, he said, is still to be processed months after the officials promised speedy process.
“Being a ‘renowned shot’ certified shooter, I am entitled to import one DBBL and 15,000 cartridges without any duty within a year of getting the certification. Since the certification which is valid for a year is to expire in December, the delay in issue of licence is preventing me from getting a good quality DBBL,” he explained.
Medals
The 33-year-old shot to limelight with the third place in trap shooting category in the South Zone Shot Gun competition conducted by Rifle Association of Andhra Pradesh in 2006.
Since then, he won a silver in the trap shooting event for Tun Haniff Trophy conducted by National Shooting Association of Malaysia and a bronze at the sixth Thailand Open Shooting conducted this year, among a few other medals in international events.
