After a string of international competitions, it will literally be back to square one for everyone in the 54th National shooting championship scheduled to be held at the Dr. Karni Singh Range from Tuesday.
The performances in the National championship, with participation made mandatory for all, will reflect on the base score for the shooters in their pursuit to make the National team.
With only Gagan Narang and Hariom Singh having confirmed Olympic quota places in air rifle and men's rifle prone events, the focus will be on acquiring as many quota places as possible through the forthcoming World Cups, apart from the shotgun World championship and the Asian championship; though the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has made it clear that winning quota places would not suffice to make the Indian team for the Olympics.
There will be merit points for international achievements such as gold in the Olympics, World championship or World Cup finals, or being the holder of a World record.
The likes of Ronjan Sodhi, the double trap gold medallist, will have to ensure top three placements in the national ranking to be able to healthily nurse an Olympic dream.
It is not difficult for shooters of that calibre, but in a calendar that is packed, it is not right to force the elite shooters to be at their best throughout the season. They deserve ample breathing space so that they can prepare judiciously so as to be at their best in the competitions that count.For, there will be selection trials following the National championships before the international competitions start. It will be interesting to see how the stars, expected to include Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, apart from World junior champion Asher Noria, shape up towards the finals on Tuesday evening, in a possible attempt to overthrow the reigning champion Vikram Bhatnagar.
The administrator of the range, Manmeet Goindi, said the venue was fully functional and that four of the six shotgun ranges would be used for double trap competition with the other two being marked for training for trap and skeet by the National federation.
Though the rifle and pistol events are scheduled to start on January 17, the shooters have already started training in right earnest.
