Friends from across the border 

NEW DELHI:  Last time India had hosted the shooting World Cup in 2019, two pistol shooters from Pakistan were denied visas. It led to a lot of controversy with Pakist­an complaining to the IOC and ultimately two quota spots from the 25m rapid fire event were removed. No such problem this time around as Usman Chand, a skeet shooter from Pakistan received his visa. On Fr­iday, he came down to the Dr Karni Si­n­gh Shooting Range to pra­c­t­ice.

He is the lone athlete from Pa­kistan and he revealed that this was his second visit to the ra­n­ge, having come to compete in this very tournament three yea­r­s back. “It was a good experien­ce last time around as well. We have a similar range in Si­a­lkot where I train. It feels like I’m shooting in my home ra­n­g­e.”
The 36-year-old was quite confident of getting a visa this time around but the delivery pe­ople were not so certain. “They kept saying I will not get it. But the Indian High Commission was quite prompt and both our federations were in discussion and I got it five days before my departure. I’m here and I cannot wait to get started.”

Indian skeet shooters Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmad Khan, especially the yo­u­­ngster, were seen in discussion with Usman while they we­re training. Usman said that th­ey have been shooting for quite a few years now and they are friends.  “When they qualified for the Olympics, I was there. Whoever reaches the final, we always support each other. They have supported me in the past and before I came here, they assured me of any he­lp I required.”

He had finished fifth in the 2018 Asian Games but since Covid-19 struck he has not really trained too much and was busy trying to keep his business afloat. The skeet shooter has a surgical equipment business and the virus and subsequent lockdown has impacted it badly.  “Could not train as much as I wanted due to the virus. My business was badly affected and I tried to keep it afloat. It has been a difficult time for all. We are glad competitions are finally resuming and hopefully, things will normalise soon.”

The shooter is a national champion back home five years in a row and is the country’s No 1 shooter in his category. His journey into sport began in 2008 when a relative took him to the national games.  Otherwise also, he added that this is the only sport for him. “I belong from a family of hunters. My grandfather was a hunter so it is in my blood. I’m self-funded while I also receive funds from the IOC’s scholarship programme but it is an expensive sport.”

Before leaving for another round of Covid testing (already tested himself four times during his journey here), he hoped that the bilateral relations between the two countries would improve. 

3 Indian shooters qualify for final

On the first day of competitions, three Indian shooters — World No 1 Divyansh Singh Panwar and Arjun Babuta in the men’s 10m Air Rifle and Anjum Moudgil in the corresponding women’s event — made it through to the finals at the end of the 60-shot qualifying round on Friday. India No 2 Arjun shot a high quality 631.8 to finish third in the 39-strong field. Divyansh followed him to the eight-man final slated for Saturday, with a 629.1 which gave him sixth position overall. Nam Taeyun of Korea topped the men’s field with a 632.1. Given his current world rank of 18 and the fact that all other finalists are not eligible except his own teammate Choo Byounggil who is ranked way below him, he should bag the only available Tokyo Olympics quota based on world rankings. Deepak Kumar, the third Indian in the field, finished 12th with a score of 626.4. In the women’s 10m Air Rifle, World No 4 and Tokyo quota holder Anjum was the lone Indian to advance. She shot 629.6 to come in second in the 48-strong field, behind Hungary’s Denes Eszter who shot 629.8. World No 1 Elavenil Valarivan missed out however, finishing 12th with a score of 626.7. So did teammate Apurvi Chandela who finished 26th with 622.8. Both the men’s and women’s 10m air rifle finals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon.