Former Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee Manavjit Singh Sandhu
HAVING PARTICIPATED in five Commonwealth Games in his career and with four bronze medals in individual category in trap event in the games, 41-year-old Punjab shooter and former Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee Manavjit Singh Sandhu will be competing in his sixth Commonwealth Games later this month in Australia. The 2006 World Championship gold medallist first competed in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games and defended his national title last year in the NRAI National Shotgun Championship in Delhi before making it to the Indian shooting team for this year’s Commonwealth Games.
“The overall preparation has been really good for me. I had gone to the World Cup in Mexico but I could not shoot in the event as I was unwell. With shooting being optional sport in the next Commonwealth Games, I want to return with a medal this time. The main challenge will be from shooters from Australia and England, which is almost the same in world championships. The conditions in Australia are always windy and we need to counter those conditions. A lot depends on the direction of wind and I will aim to adjust ahead of the April 12-13 trap event,” said Sandhu, who is a resident of Ferozepur.
While Sandhu could not make it to the Indian team for the last year’s ISSF World Cup in Delhi with Zoravar Singh, Kynan Chenai and Birendeep Singh Sodhi making it to the Indian squad, Sandhu made a comeback in the Shotgun National Championship held in Delhi. The shooter, who had won the gold medal in ISSF Shotgun World Cup in USA in 2014 defeating two-time Olympic champion Michael Diamond, won the national title last year defeating Uttar Pradesh’s Anwar Sultan in the final.
The Punjab shooter made the cut for CWG Australia and will also be in the Indian team for ISSF World Cup to be held in Korea this month apart from ISSF World Cup in Malta. “In trap, maturity is very important and the last two decades have taught me a lot of patience. I have worked on my fitness in the recent years and it has given me the edge in training as well. The emergence of youngsters is always challenging and encouraging for experienced shooters. Earlier, we used to see 40-50 entries in trap in nationals and now we see more than 200. The interest in shot gun shooting is increasing and with more government support for more trap ranges, we can excel more,” Sandhu said.
Fifty-five shooters, including ISSF Junior World Cup medallist Arjun Babuta, Anhad Jawanda and Ganemat Sekhon were honoured in the felicitation ceremony by the Punjab Rifle Shooting Association. “The Punjab government recently allocated Rs 6 crore for Punjab Rifle Shooting Association through department of sports. We aim to create more training facilities for shooters. Apart from modernising the range in Mohali, we will have to improve trap ranges in Punjab. We will also spend the money on organising more training camps for shooters under ISSF certified coaches and also to train the coaches,” said Olympian Gurbir Singh Sandhu, president of Punjab Rifle Shooting Association.