Shooting In The Dark

That ranks him as the top shooter in the senior division. On this form, he’s in line for a berth in the Beijing Olympics. First, though, he has to deal with a lot of red tape.

Amanpreet’s troubles came about because of his success at the nationals in October 2004. He was a bronze medallist in the air pistol event, which allowed him to import that weapon (it doesn’t need a licence). He also finished among the top 25 shooters in the free pistol event, so he applied for a .22 pistol as well.

That requires a licence, and to obtain it he made several rounds of the district collector’s office in Jalandhar, where his impressive track record wasn’t enough to cut through the bureaucracy.

The officials there repeatedly pointed out that, at 18, Amanpreet was not entitled to possess an arms licence. They wouldn’t listen to his plea that target shooting rules exempt those aged above 16 from the law.

He did eventually get the licence — after almost six months of running around. ‘‘Eventually we had to get a photocopy of the rule book to convince the officials’’, says Amanpreet.

His problems aren’t over. The NRAI’s rules allow him one calendar year to import the weapon; that year ends on November 30 and if he doesn’t import by then, his accreditation for exemption stands cancelled.

With a big year coming up — The Commonwealth Games are just a few months away — he stands to lose in a big way. he’s already bought a second-hand air pistol but knows it won’t be enought against the top guns.

The government’s view on this is non-committal. ‘‘Most sports equipment is available in the country’’, says S Krishnan, joint secretary in the Sports Ministry. ‘‘Regarding the import of sports weapons, including firearm and air weapons, elite shooters are exempted from import duty. The application doesn’t take all that long to process.’’ That’s fine. Just don’t tell that to Amanpreet.