PANJIM: Goa is expected to participate in the shooting event at the 37th National Games to be held in the State in October-November, but the prospects in terms of earning medals look bleak, there being no shooting range to start with, even for practise in Goa. The Games event will be held in New Delhi.
The burden on Goa’s showing will depend on Yash Padloskar, one of the rising shooting stars in Goa, who has been representing the State at national championships since 2014. He was in India squad in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He created a national record in Big Bore 3 Position 300 meter and was the first-ever shooter from Goa to be in the Indian squad. Currently he is based in Pune as part of the Khelo India initiative.
Another Goan shooter Akanksha Shinde, who competes in10 metres, 50 metres, 3 position and 50 metres prone is an upcoming talented girl. However, she says: “It is tough being a shooter in Goa. It is an expensive sport, what with expensive guns, bullets and training.”
The paucity of good equipment is glaring. The sport needs electronic targets and it is not possible to function with manual ones. Goa has one electronic target for 10 metres and one for 50 metres. Training sessions are not available in Goa. States like MP organize camps for their teams either in the country or abroad. In Goa, on the other hand, shooters come together and use their own funds to hire the services of an international coach.
The Goa team hired the services of Luri Nikhalkin, an Olympian to train them. He would charge them between Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh per shooter. The fees are considered as reasonable as there are some who charge much more for their services.
In Goa, the number of active shooters is about 25. This pales in comparison to states like Maharashtra where the number of shooters runs into thousands. This also means the standard of competition is intense. Akanksha alluded to the fact that in Goa, since the number of shooters is less, it was easy to come through the system in a year or two and stand out.
The absence of top class coaching was highlighted by Bhagyashri Padloskar, who has been involved in coaching for well over a decade. She said the absence of a high performance coach was sorely felt. She said: “The facilities are not in place in the state for a sport which is so technical. Importantly, there is not much awareness of shooting as a sport in Goa.”
To top it all, the shooting association is not active. Some alleged that the association did not submit records to SAG, as a consequence of which funds cannot be released.
Sports Minister Govind Gaude, who wants that Goa should participate in all the events at the Games, since Goa are the hosts and thus does not need any qualification mark to field the teams, has repeatedly asked the associations to submit details for 90-day camps, so as to raise the performance. Most of the associations failed to meet the deadline for organising camps. Nothing has been heard after that. That’s the level of seriousness. If that’s the sad scenario, one wonders if it is wise to field teams just for sake of mere participation, for it could well mean wastage of the precious tax payers’ money. The impression that accountability is at a very low level in Goan sports, by and large, seems to be gaining some ground.
Meanwhile, the IOA, at its first annual general body meeting in New Delhi under the presidentship of P T Usha, approved the report presented by Amitabh Sharma, Executive Committee member who was the leader of the IOA delegation which visited Goa to inspect the venues for organising the National Games in October-November. He expressed satisfaction with the infrastructure at the venues.
