The fascination for shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun.
That’s famous English humour writer PG Wodehouse, with his Second World War experience, hitting a bull’s eye on the modern day sport. With the Indian shooters being on the right end of the gun, the fascination is justified, considering this is an Olympic year.
Since Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore fired silver at the Athens Olympic Games, almost four yeas ago, the country is, slowly but surely, becoming a force to reckon with on the global stage. “International shooters are now scared of us. They know we have the potential to beat anyone. We have made a marked improvement, covered a lot of ground in the last four years,” says ace shooter Anjali Bhagwat.
Nine shooters (Rathore, Bhagwat, Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, Samresh Jung, Mansher Singh, Manavjeet Singh Sandhu, Avneet Kaur Sidhu and Sanjeev Rajput) will carry on their shoulders the country’s Olympics hopes. The lesser known faces on that list of fabulous nine — Avneet and Rajput — have a lot in common. Their rise has been phenomenal as both picked their weapon for the first time only about six years back, and they represent the spreading of the sport to rural India.
We trace their journey.

Navy man making waves in Yamuna Nagar
Sanjeev Rajput

He is a quiet person, who lets his weapon do the talking. “I don’t shoot too much from the mouth,” says Sanjeev Rajput.
And like Avneet’s, his rise has been dramatic. Rajput joined Navy in 1999 after completing Standard 12, and started shooting only in 2001 as part of his training. The same year, he took part in the GV Mavlankar Shooting Championship in Asansol. Six years later, he won India’s first-ever Olympic quota in the men’s 50m rifle three position event by finishing tenth at ISSF World Cup in Atlanta in April 2007 where he fired 1170/1200.
“I was scoring high at that time, at par with the international standard, so I knew I had a chance to win quota. But there was no pressure. What probably worked to my advantage was that I wasn’t a known face. So there wasn’t any pressure. But now they know me,” said Sanjeev.
So is there pressure on him now? “I don’t know how I will react at the Olympics. But as of now I don’t think much about Olympics. I believe that if I have the calibre to go to Olympics, I have it in me to prove it there also,” said the 27-year old.
Back home in the Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana, Rajput has become a known face. “People there now know that I do shooting. It feels good to know that the entire nation is looking at you. But that brings responsibility. If I don’t do well, what will the youngsters who are taking up the sport think?” he asked.
His father Kishanlal Rajput too is surprised by the rapid rise. “We never thought our son would become so big. It seems like a play being enacted on stage. Now people in our town come to congratulate us. The kids here want to follow Sanjeev’s footsteps,” he said. “We have high expectation from him now. We all want him to win gold at the Olympics,” senior Rajput added.
As a kid, he never thought shooting would bring him so much recognition. “It feels at times that I’m in another world. But I’m very much aware of the reality. Now my aim is to do better and improve my performance,” said Sanjeev. Rajput feels the facilities in the country need to be upgraded to match international standards. “We are not used to windy conditions. You don’t get to see mirage forming in our domestic ranges. So we need better facilities,” said Sanjeev.
The rifleman is currently gathering information about conditions in China, particularly in the month of August. “I’m doing it so that I get a fair idea about the climate. When I shoot, I basically try to assess the range and myself, till what point can I score in existing situations,” said Sanjeev.
The shooter is also working to improve his scoring in the kneeling position. “I have to make it stronger so that I can attain 390 as an average score. Now I am touching 385. I’m putting in plenty of effort,” said Sanjeev.
But ask him about his preparations for the Beijing Olympics and lines form on his forehead. “There should be specific programme for Olympics. We haven’t started anything like that yet. Other countries start at least a year in advance. Now we are left with just eight months. So you know.”
“But we have the potential to do it there,” he adds.

... contd.