2 min readNew DelhiFeb 26, 2014 01:56 AM IST
First published on: Feb 26, 2014 at 01:56 AM IST
Trap-shooter Manavjit Sandhu and double-trapper Ronjan Sodhi have been part of many national and international meets. In two decades of being participants, they have experienced their share of organisational goof-ups. Now, life has come full circle for the duo, India’s best shot-gunners, as they are set to launch the Indian Shotgun Open on Wednesday.
The duo are organising the tournament along with Manav Rachna’s Vice-president Amit Bhalla. They have also realised hard it is to arrangements an event of this scale.
With fund-raising and the the hunt for sponsors accomplished in little less than a month, Manavjit spoke with new-found realisation. “I will not complain against any tournament organiser,” Manavjit said.
Besides being organisers, they will also be competing against young shooters, who will get the advantage of a handicap system — where a less-experienced shooter will be given an advantage in order to arrive at par with the experienced ones.
“It does makes things interesting. I will have to shoot at my best to be able to win, but I add that I won’t might losing,” he added.
For Ronjan though, the best thing would be a young winner. “He will go back home and will tell that he has beaten one of us. He will know how to win,” he said.
The idea of the shorter version of the shotgun events was seeded while participating in weekend events abroad — a culture missing from the Indian shooting circuit. “We want this to be a fun, carnival kind of a tournament,” Ronjan explained.
Yet it does retain the competitive nature, for some. “It gives shooters an opportunity to be competitive without tremendous tension. It is important that everybody at the junior level tastes success,” Manavjit said. The top-30 finishers will get cash awards.
There is also an all-round category — free of the handicap system — where the shooter with highest scores in the combined disciplines of trap, skeet and double trap will win the Patiala Cup.
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