For young Manik Kalra,the 19th Meeting of Shooting Hopes Rifle and Pistol Junior,held in Plzen,Czech Republic,was the best thing to have happened in his life. The Ferozepur lad came up with the best performance among the junior national team that was participating in the event. "My score of 535/600 in free pistol was the best among the Indians. This has been my best performance till date. However,I was disappointed that the team finished sixth in the competition," said the 15-year-old Chandigarh based shooter Manik,who also had personal score of 565/600 in air pistol category. Despite the fact that there were no good coaches accompanying the team and no uniform of its own like the other teams,the upcoming shooter still have plenty of memorable experiences to share. "The full strength Russian team was there. They had a very good coach with them. The exposure that I got during these two events taught me a lot about shooting,and now I am determined to do well in future competitions," said the shooter who had also participated in the International Junior Competition in Rifle and Pistol at Suhl,Germany. Shooting was always in his blood_his father being an IPS officer_ but his romance with the sport started one and a half years ago,when his policeman father took him to a shooting range in Jalandhar. Remembering the day,class X student of St John's School,Chandigarh said,"It was my summer vacations and my father had asked me to come to Jalandhar. There he took me to a shooting range and handling me a rifle he asked me to give it a shot. I started going there and trained for about two weeks after which my father enrolled my name for the state championship. I participated in the event,and to my surprise I won a gold medal. After that I decided to continue shooting." Now after Germany and Czech Republic,he is turning his attention towards the National Shooting Championship and the National Games to be held in November and December,respectively. "I practise with my coach,Avatar Singh,at Sector 25 Shooting Range and sometimes at my home. I am full of confidence right now and I hope to do well in these two events," he concluded.
