Randhwa’s interest in shooting began in the early years of this decade. He has competed in skeet as well as Big Bore events at national championships, but finished way down the standings. (Source: File)He is an eight-time winner on the Asian Tour who has also tasted success on the Japan Tour, but 46-year-old Jyoti Randhawa is also known for his love for adventure sports. The golfer was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Forest department for poaching in Motipur range, where his father has a farmhouse.
Randhwa’s interest in shooting began in the early years of this decade. He has competed in skeet as well as Big Bore events at national championships, but finished way down the standings.
“Jyoti Randhawa approached us to represent Punjab in big bore events. He used to finish low since he would play golf for the rest of the year and shooting was just5 one of his hobbies. He has a licence for big bore rifle events and also got a permit for import of ammunition as per the government and NRAI norms,” an official of the Punjab Shooting Association said.
“In Punjab and Uttarakhand, under some conditions, persons can hunt wild boar with permits where they are a threat to farmland. And some of the shooters do that following the norms.”
The golfer, married to Bollywood actress Chitrangda Singh before they got divorced in 2014, has had an illustrious career on the golf course. While his Asian Tour titles came between 1998 and 2009, he was also the first Indian to win the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2002. A three-time winner of the Indian Open, Randhwa has been a regular feature on the continental Tour apart from the domestic PGTI circuit.
As his golfing fortunes have taken a dip in recent times, he has tried his hand at sky diving and scuba diving.
In 2011, Randhawa skydived from approximately 7,000 feet on the Beldeh Golf Course in Jamshedpur before the pro-am event of the 10th Tata Open.
“Jyoti has been a lover of adventure sports right from the beginning of his golfing career. Some years ago, he suffered a collarbone injury in a bike racing accident and missed some tournaments.
“A few years ago, he also did a scuba diving course in the Andamans and and also got himself certified for scuba diving in open water anywhere in the world. During one of the tournaments in Srinagar, he would spend time fishing trout in the Lidder river near Pahalgam. All this was done after getting the necessary permits. During the search for tigress T-1 in Pandharkawda in Maharashtra earlier this year, he assisted in the search operation with his Italian Cane Corso breed of dogs,” said a golfer.
