Future Bindras firing blanks!

Author: Shashank Shekhar

Young Sohum Wahi, student of Class IX of Amity School in Noida, remembers the days when he along with 10 other friends enthusiastically picked up a German-made gun two years back to pursue a career in this sport. But now he sarcastically smiles and tells: "Only two of us are still continuing the sport". The reason behind their hanging the boots are unavailability of the sports equipment and the expenses they have to bear. Sohum's father Anuj Wahi describes the pain he had experienced to get an imported gun for his son. He said, "I had to run from pillar to post to arrange a gun for my son.""Earlier, I have provided him a rented gun for which I used to pay Rs 1, 300 per month as rent. Later on I somehow managed to import a gun for him. But thing were not so easy. Ammunition is another big problem as it is not available. As National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) too has short of ammunition (pallets), we are compelled to purchase it from outside which cost just the double. If my son was not so enthusiast about the sport I would have asked him to quit."Even the international shooting player Captian G D Sharma said, "I am very happy that India has bagged a gold medal in shooting. It is a very expensive sport as in the beginning itself it requires an investment of Rs 1.30 lakh." "There is a crunch of ammunition because of which many players can't practice. There should be some relaxation in ammunition import," he said."Due to unavailability of shooting equipments, the grey market is on prowl. A box of pallet which normally cost Rs 380 at NRAI, costs Rs 600-Rs 800 in the grey market," an ace shooter on the condition of anonymity said.The NRAI too clams that the shooters have to wait long for pallets. Rajeev Bhatia, secretary, NRAI, said, "We have a long way to go but Abhinav's win is going to inspire many budding shooters. Government need to work more at the grass root level. There is a requirement of one more shooting range in East Delhi. Due to shortage of supply in ammunition, we have lost some precious time for practice. To import a gun, so many government agencies are involved that it takes lot of time."