Good news to shooters practising in the Krishna district. Keen to promote the sport among youngsters, Commissioner of Police Gautam Sawang has promised that he would use his good offices to provide Mangalagiri shooting range for budding shooters to hone their skills.
Speaking at the prize distribution ceremony of the 18th Andhra Pradesh State shooting competitions organised by the Rifle Association of Andhra Pradesh (RAAP) here on Sunday, he said the shooters from Andhra Pradesh were honing their skills in the Gachibowli range in Hyderabad as there was no infrastructure in the new State.
He appreciated the RAAP for conducting the prize distribution function in Vijayawada as it would inspire youngsters from the State to take up the sport which was gaining popularity after exploits of ace shooters like Gagan Narang and Subrahmanyam.
He felt happy to see many girls taking up shooting in a big way and said shooting would increase concentration and focus. “Any game of marksmanship will help you gain focus and concentration,” he added. He suggested the association to bring in ace marksmen to coach the budding shooters.
RAAP vice-president G.V.K. Ranga Raju said there were 500 shooters in the unified RAAP and after bifurcation nearly 400 took affiliation with Telangana Rifle Association and the rest remained with Andhra Pradesh.
He said the most important lesson for the budding shooters was to know how to handle the firearm. “Improper use of firearm or weapon may cause injury and sometimes can be fatal,” he warned.
Former Andhra Cricket Association secretary Gokaraju Ganga Raju said that the the Krishna District Rifle Association was in possession with .303 rifles numbering 30 which were bought by former district rifle shooting administrator G. S. Raju and exhorted the youngsters to make use of them by learning the sport. “Soon we will have a quality range in the new capital city of Amaravati. Till then we will make use Hyderabad range,” he added.
Later the winners of the competitions in 10m air rifle, pistol, 25m pistol and shotgun events in all age groups were presented with medals. “The South Zone shooting competitions will be held at Gachibowli range from August 12 which will be organised by RAAP,” said T. Salalith, secretary of the association.