Ronjan Sodhi Wins ISSF World Cup Gold. Yet Again!
When the whole world was eagerly awaiting the kick-off at the FIFA world cup in South Africa, an Indian was rewriting history books with his own performance in the ISSF World Cup. Ronjan Sodhi shot a perfect 50 in the final to clinch the coveted Gold Medal in Double Trap event at the ISSF World Cup being held at Lonato, Italy. “I made it in the Mecca of shotgun shooting!” exclaimed Ronjan.
After making it into the match in third place with a qualification score of 145 hits Sodhi played a perfect game. While his opponents started dropping a target after the other, the Indian sharpshooter hit them all, climbing in the lead with a perfect final score of 50 hits out of 50 clays. His final score of 195 targets turned out to be unbeatable for Russia’s Fokeev and Kuwait’s Aldeehani, who were left in second to shoot-off for Silver.
Over the past few years Ronjan Sodhi has been one of the most consistent performers for India in the Double Trap Shooting event. Now he has set his sight on booking himself an Olympic Quota which will be available to the top performers at the 50th ISSF World Championship in Munich during July and August. With a string of good performances behind his back, he should definitely be feeling confident about his chances.
We wish Ronjan all the very best for all his endeavours.
Indian Shooters reign Supreme
Former world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu combined with Mansher Singh and Birendeep Singh to clinch the men’s trap team gold but settled for silver in the individual event of the Asian Clay Shooting Championship in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Manavjit (120/125), Mansher (110) and Birendeep (111) won the gold medal with a score of 341/375.
Manavjit took the silver individually with a score of 120+18. He was tied with a Kuwaiti shooter in the qualifying round in which both had scores of 120/125. But in the finals, the Kuwaiti shooter won the gold with 19/25, whereas Manavjit could shoot only 18/25.
On Tuesday, in the women’s Trap event, Shreyasi Singh (58/75), Seema Tomar (54) and Varsha Tomar (54) won the bronze medal in team event, the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) said in a statement.
Courtesy: http://www.timesofindia.com
Joydeep shoots 599 out of 600 in Shooting World Cup
Joydeep Karmakar shot an amazing score of 599 (out of maximum possible 600) in qualifying of the 50m prone rifle event at the ISSF world cup currently being held at Sydney’s International Shooting Centre. He was beaten only by the “Perfect Score” shot by Warren Potent of Australia.
Joydeep has been a regular in representing India in the 50 m prone rifle category along with Gagan Narang. Recently, both of them combined to win a Gold in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships as well in the Pairs event. Joydeep hails from a family very active in sports. His father, Santa Karmakar, was a national level swimmer hailing from the state of West Bengal.
Wishing Joydeep all the very best for the Finals which will begin later in the day.
Shotgun Shooting Events – Demystified
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) recognizes several shooting events, some of which have Olympic status. They are divided into four disciplines: rifle, pistol, shotgun and running target. The main distinctions between different rifle events are the distances to the target and the shooting positions used. For the other disciplines, the position is always standing, and changes include limits to shooting times and different types of targets.
3 main Olympic sports in the Shotgun category are Trap, Double Trap and Skeet. Apart from Double Trap event, other two are competed in both Men and Women Categories.
Mansher Singh
Trap, the single-target shooting event has a history over a hundred years old. It is considered more difficult than most other trap versions in that the distance to the targets and the speed with which they are thrown are both greater. Until 1992, the Olympic trap event was open to both men and women. In 1996, it was open to men only, and from 2000 men and women have had separate competitions. The course of fire is 125 targets in the qualification round for men and 75 for women, and 25 additional targets in the final round for the six best shooters. In 2005, the final rules were changed so that only one shot can now be taken at each target, as opposed to two in the qualification round. Dr. Karni Singh, Mansher Singh and Manavjit Sandhu are few of the best known Indian shooters in this category.
In Double Trap category, participants use a shotgun to attempt to break a clay disk flung away from the shooter at
Dr. Karni Singh
high speed. The layout of double trap shooting is similar to that of trap shooting. The shooter stands 16 yards behind the house that releases the targets. Two targets are released simultaneously from the house. They follow set paths, usually 35 degrees to left and right of straightaway. The shooter can take one shot at each target. In international Double Trap competitions, the course of fire is 75 doubles for men and 60 doubles for women. As the men’s event enjoys Olympic status, it also involves a 25-double final for the top six competitors. The women’s event was taken off the Olympic program after the 2004 Summer Olympics. Final shooting for women was discontinued in international competition as a result. Rajyavardhan Rathore won a Silver Medal in this category in Athens Olympics in 2004. Apart from him, Ronjan Sodhi and Mansher Singh are other shooters of note in this category.
In Skeet, two throwing machines at different heights launch a series of 25 targets in a specific order, some as singles and some as doubles, with the shooter having a fixed position between them. Men’s competitions consist of five such series, while women’s have three. The top six competitors shoot an additional series as a final round, on targets filled with special powder to show hits more clearly to the audience. The event was introduced in 1968, and until 1992 both men and women were allowed to participate. But in 1996 the event was limited to men only, which was somewhat controversial because the 1992 Olympic Champion was a woman. However, women had their own World Championships, and in 2000, a female skeet event was introduced. Dr. Karni Singh has been the most recognized Skeet shooter India has produced. He won National Championship for 17 years in a row !!!
Shooting 101
History of Shooting
The shooting sports include those competitive sports involving tests of proficiency (accuracy and speed) using various types of guns such as Pistols, Air-rifles etc. Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event (albeit only once, in 1900). The shooting sports are categorized by the type of firearm or target used.
Abhinav Bindra
Rajyavardhan Rathore
French pistol champion and founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, participated in many of the early competitions. This fact contributed to the inclusion of five shooting events in the 1896 Olympics. Over the years, the events have been changed a number of times in order to keep up with technology and social standards. For example, targets that formerly resembled humans or animals in their shape and size have are now a circular shape in order to avoid associating the sport with any form of violence. At the same time, some events have been dropped and new ones have been added. The 2004 Olympics featured three shooting disciplines (rifle, pistol and shotgun) where athletes competed for 51 medals in 10 men’s and 7 women’s events—slightly fewer than the previous Olympic schedule.
The Olympic Games continue to provide the shooting sports with its greatest public relations opportunity. The sport has always enjoyed the distinction of awarding the first medals of the Games. Internationally, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has oversight of all Olympic shooting events worldwide, while National Governing Bodies (NGBs) administer the sport within each country. In India, the governing body is known as National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
Shooting in India
In India, shooting is generally regarded as an expensive sport, which only the affluent, powerful and the talented with institutional support can pursue as a serious career. This is the reason why the sport remains as the secondary choice of the sports enthusiasts in India. Nonetheless, with the good work of Indian shooters coming into limelight, more and more youngsters are opting for shooting sport as their profession. Today, shooting has proved to be a stiff competitor of games including cricket and badminton, which score more in popularity.
The recent achievements of veteran shooters like Abhinav Bindra (who won the first individual Olympic gold medal for India) and Rajyavardhan Rathore (who won the silver medal in Men’s Double Trap at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens) have become the role models for the young Indian shooters. Apart from these two, many other shooters are making a name for themselves in the International arena. Jaspal Rana, Samaresh Jung, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Ronjan Sodhi are just few amongst many competing for top spot in their individual event categories.
NRAI Relents – Finally !!!
Long wait to common sense seems to be over. Finally, National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) has relented to the sustained pressure from the shooting community and criticism by the media. They have decided to accept the scores from the International events towards the selection of the teams representing India in the various international events. The new policy goes into affect from 13th March 2010 and would cover the selection of teams till London Olympics in 2012.
This followed an embarrassing and public confrontation with Olympic Gold Medalist Abhinav Bindra and NRAI earlier in the year. Then the recent debacle where Ronjan Sodhi was not selected to be shooting in the recently concluded World Championship added fuel to the fire. Here Ronjan shot a memorable, world record equaling, score of 147 in the double trap event whereas the winner of event shot only 144. Ronjan was deprived of a sure shot medal opportunity due to flawed and ridiculous selection policy.
Hope things would be smooth from now on and we will not witness such situations in the future. Kudos to the shooting community and media for fighting for the cause. Cheers !!!
“TRAP”ped in the “DOUBLE TRAP”
A Gold Medal and a World-Record equaling performance at the World Championships should warrant a huge homecoming for the heroes. But these achievements (check out http://wp.me/pPztP-1n and http://wp.me/pPztP-1b for more information) have been lost somewhat in the recent craze that the nation has developed i.e. hockey. Inadequate media coverage and lack of understanding of the sport itself are just two of the reasons that these proud moments were lost to all the fans of Indian Sports.
For these precise reasons, I will talk about the game of “Shooting” under “Sport of the Week” column and would try to learn along with all of you about the history of sports, various events, rules, etc. Most importantly, I’ll talk about the achievements of fellow Indians in Shooting and the recent success that these phenomenal stars have achieved and made all of us proud. Hopefully, after this we’ll be able to distinguish between Trap, Double Trap, Skeet and be able to appreciate and cheer for the Champs of these sports.
Sodhi shoots the World Record score: Loses to NRAI
Ronjan Sodhi
Ace double trap shooter shot a score of superb 147 to equal the world record for the event. This is the third time that Sodhi has shot this score in the world cup and has equalled his own world record. However, the most important thing to note and ponder over is the fact that despite all this Sodhi wasn’t even competing for the Gold Medal. The reason: Draconian policies of the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI), the governing body for shooting events in India. The winner of the event shot a score of 144 and Sodhi would have been a winner by good 3 shots had this injustice was not meted out to him.
As per ISSF rules, a country can nominate for only 3 slots for any event. NRAI decides these slots on the basis of the trials being conducted every month or so. The most surprising thing to note is that scorees from International Competitions are not accepted. In order to qualify, a shooter must participate in the trials conducted by NRAI and his international achievements and training count for nothing. This was the reason that Sodhi, amongst the best in the world in double trap event, could not compete in the medal category. Just because he could not appease NRAI !!! What a shame !!! My heart goes out to Ranjon Sodhi and sincerely hope that something is done to correct this flawed policy and avoid occurance of such embarrasing moments again.
Meanwhile, Ranjon Sodhi all the very best for your future performances and heart congrats on this achievement. Keep on shooting down those birds champ !!!
Manavjit Singh Sandhu wins Gold in the ISSF World Cup
Manavjit Singh Sandhu
Manavjit Singh Sandhu wins the Gold in Trap with a score of 145 out of 150. The 34-year-old Sandhu did miss two birds in the final, in which the shooters have a single cartridge for each bird, Manavjit missed the two consecutive birds on his 8th and 9th shots but later held on to his nerves to hit the remaining 16 targets to grab the gold with a point’s margin. Recently, Manavjit had won Gold in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships at Delhi with a score of 146 (124+22) “I did not realize that I was going to win until the last shots. It has been a very close competition. I just won by a single target. I shot aggressively up until the end and eventually made it to the top.” said Sandhu
Another Indian Anirudh Singh clinched the 4th spot in the same event. In fact on day one of the qualification rounds, Anirudh had taken the lead over the strong field after shooting a perfect score of 75/75. In the remaining two rounds held on day two, Anirudh shot 24 and 23 to qualifiy for the finals with a score of 122 with three more shooters on the same score, including Manavjit. Anirudh registered a total score of 143 which tied him for the 4th place with Pellielo Giovanni of Italy. In the shoot off Anirudh defeated the Beijing Olympic silver medallist by 2 hits to 1. The third Indian in the team Birendeep Sodhi also shot an impressive score of 120 (25,23,23,24,25) to finish 10th.
In the women’s trap event, none of the three Indian shooters could make it to the final round, Shagun Chowdhary shot the best among the Indians to finish 13th with a score of 66 (22,23,21), Shreyasi Singh finished 16th with a score of 64 (20,23,21) while Seema Tomar shot 63 (20,22,21) to finish 17th.
Adapted from Indianshooting.com
Reviving the Glory of Indian Sports 