Gearing up to hit bullseye

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"Only a handful of international players have come from the state,” said Sunny Thomas while observing young shooters taking aim at the ongoing State Shooting Championship in Kozhikode.

“It is high time we invested in the sport. There should be international standard shooting ranges like in the North for us to achieve something big,” added the national head coach.

He was, however, glad that more youngsters from the state were taking up the sport and emphasised the need to seize this opportunity by providing them with better facilities to help in achieving their goals.

“After the impressive medalhaul by our shooters in the Commonwealth Games held last year, there have been a lot of players coming forward to play the game. We are getting a lot of talented players from the country. In the state also, there has been a considerable increase in the number of professional shooters,” said Thomas.

His statement was not a case of misplaced optimism as compared to last year’s Championship, which was attended by only 150 players, this year, the participation has doubled.

But the state still lacks the facilities that are required to compete at an international stage.

Meanwhile, Thomas, who is also vice-president of the National Rifle Association of India, said that the Olympic team for London 2012 will be announced in January.

“India have already won nine quotas for the upcoming Olympics. One more Olympics qualifying championship is to be held and we expect four or five more places for the country,” he said.

Pointing out that the Association was focused on the Olympics, Thomas asserted that he was hopeful of India winning more medals, possibly gold, in the upcoming mega event.

“We have to start the preparation for London Olympics at least six months before. Though we have received nine quotas so far we will have to wait until the announcement to know who will compete in which event. But definitely the shooters will get more time to practise and improve.”

The next Olympics qualifying tournament is the Asian Championship to be held in Qatar. “In the 90s Indian shooters used to participate as wild card entries in the World Championships but, look at the way things have changed,” he said.