Bindra’s preparations bother Rana

The centre-fire pistol World record holder extended his help to the rising shooter in achieving desired result at Sydney, but again wondered “why is he spending time here?”

National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) felicitated Bindra, who will be the youngest marksman at the Olympics, with a cash award of Rs one lakh for equalling the junior World record.

The 17-year-old Bindra, who achieved 596/600 at the Munich World Cup last month but missed the medal by a whisker, was given the award by NRAI President Digvijay Singh here.

After missing Olympic quota place when he settled for a bronze medal at the Asian Shooting Championships in Langkawai, Malaysia, in January with a score of 592, Bindra performed consistently in the World Cups to impress the International Shooting Sports Federation enough to issue a wildcard.

Along with Bindra, trapshooter Anwar Sultan, silver medallist at the Langkawi Championships, will represent India at the September 15-October 1 Games.

Bindra, coached by Hungarian Laszlo Szucsak, will join the camp on August 15 and undergo two trials from August 20 to 28 before leaving for Sydney on September 3.

Despite his not being able to make it to Sydney as Centre-re pistol is a non-Olympic event, Rana has no regrets.

“They (Abhinav and Anwar Sultan) won the berths on their merit. I am happy for them,” he said.

Rana, who tried his hand at rapid-fire without much success, excelled in air pistol events in World Cups and Grand Prix’s in Europe and the United States, but his performance fell little short of clinching hardship quota.

“I did well, upto my expectations in a new event. They did much better in their respective fields and qualified,” Rana said.

“They should not feel any burden that I’ve failed to qualify. Specially Abhinav, he is a brilliant shooter, he should concentrate on his job,” the Commonwealth gold medallist said.

Rana himself finished sixth in a World Cup event and seventh in Grand Prix, but there is very tight competition for air pistol hardship quotas which are due to be released soon.

He said the level of competition was going up by the day but facilities in India remained meagre and far from the world standards.

“If we cannot have international class facilities then shooters should be sent out. Repeatedly calling them for camps in India is like taking two steps forward and four steps backwards,” he said.

Bindra himself is nonchalant about the kind of focus on him. “I won’t bother about who is doing what. I’ll focus on my game and strive to achieve a medal for the country,” he said.

Bindra, a student here, has fallent totally in love with shooting at this tender age.

He has converted his backyard into a small shooting range and now hopes to add an Olympic medal to his trophy cabinet.

Rana, however, was more philosophical and forward looking.

“It’ll be a real let down if shooters, after winning so many laurels for the country, are not provided with proper facilities,” he said.

Rana said he is now aiming for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and Pusan Asian Games the same year.

“There I have to shoot in my pet event — Centre-firepistol — but if I am expected to qualify for next Olympics, I’ll have to pursue air pistol for which there are no good facilities here,” he lamented.

He said if NRAI wanted him to make it to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, world class facilities should be made available right now.

“You can’t expect me to perform to the Olympic standards by giving me chance to practice at such facilities only a year before the Games.

“It will require four years of rigorous practice to be able to clinch a berth in a new event,” Rana said.

Meanwhile, trap shooter Anwar Sultan is still in Italy practicing with his coach Marcelo Dradi and teammates Mansher Singh, Zorawar Singh and Manavjit Singh.