Raninder Singh, the gregarious chief of the National Rifle Association of India
(NRAI), doesnt break his step as he charges with purpose towards the McDonalds
at the athletes village in Rio.
Cheap San Francisco Giants Jerseys . Hes just
finished delivering a pep talk to the Indian shooting team and suddenly realised
that hes famished. These hunger pangs are easily satisfied with a quick snack,
but for Raninder and his team of shooters, the next few days offer a chance to
devour a record haul of medals.Four shooting medals have been won at the last
three Olympics including Indias only individual Gold in Olympic history. No
other sport has delivered as many individual medals in Indian Olympic history.
Now, with the first competitive shot set to be fired on Saturday, the contingent
faces the burden of building on this impressive legacy.We have been doing very
well, training well, the government has given us great funding and we have used
the resources very well, says team manager Ronak Pandit, a former international
shooter himself. I wont say the shooters are under pressure at all. The
atmosphere is fantastic, the shooters are very positive, the training results
are excellent and we look forward to a great competition.There is little doubt
that at least outwardly, no member of the contingent is overawed by the stage.
At the official welcoming ceremony at the athletes village on Tuesday, several
were seen out and about, posing cheerily for pictures, back slapping fellow
shooters and happily mixing with other athletes and a motley crew of
journalists. The man drawing most curiosity among them was the spunky Jitu Rai,
who is being spoken of in hushed tones as the shooter who can get India off to a
sparkling start on Saturday in the 10m Air Pistol.Over the last couple of years,
Jitu has been a standout performer. He won gold in the 50m Air Pistol at both
the 2014 Commonwealth and Asian Games and a clutch of medals on the World Cup
circuit as well. He was the first Indian shooter to secure a spot for these
Games and Pandit describes his current form as sublime. Jitu exudes an air of
assured confidence and walks around with a cheeky glint in his eye. Pandit
credits him for not succumbing to over analysis ahead of the biggest challenge
of his young career. The 50m is his stronger suit but on his day Jitu can mix it
with the best in the 10m as well. He is ranked third in the world in both events
at the moment, establishing his pedigree as among the elite shooters in the
discipline.Jitu in fact is one of eight first-time Olympians in the contingent
of 12 shooters who have qualified for these Olympics, the most ever for India in
history. Besides the Naib-Subedar in the Indian army, two other debutants will
be thrown into the deep end on Saturday itself. Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika
Paul, both 23, will also be in action in the 10m Air rifle. They completed a
memorable 1-2 by clinching gold & silver respectively at the 2014
Commonwealth games but in Rio, but will have no illusions about the the fact
that the ferocity of the challenge at an Olympics is on an altogether different
level.Of the four shooters with previous Olympics experience - Abhinav Bindra,
Gagan Narang, Manavjit Sandhu and Heena Sidhu - two, Bindra and Narang have
clinched podium places. Bindra, who will be the flag bearer of the Indian
contingent at the opening ceremony tonight, has announced that his career will
end once he completes his event, the 10m Air rifle, on August 8. Narang, who is
at his fourth Olympics is set to compete in three different events as he looks
to add to the bronze he won at London in 2012. As the the senior statesmen of
the squad, it is no surprise that the first timers are gravitating towards them,
eager to imbibe all they can to tackle the unique challenges of a high
visibility occasion such as this.It shows us that people can survive so many
Olympics, says Pandit about the value of having shooters of such eminence in the
contingent. Whenever you have an issue, or you are experiencing jitters you can
always look up to them and speak to them about their experiences because they
have different things to put on the table compared to someone who is shooting
for the first time.It has the makings of an intriguing week at the Olympic
shooting centre. Since Rajyavardhan Rathore broke a glass ceiling in 2004 at
Athens with his Double Trap silver, Indian shooting has been on a steady upward
curve. These are set up to be a breakthrough Olympics, one that may well end
with what Pandit assures will be the best medal count so far. If that were to
indeed happen, one would imagine the boss man of the shooting federation wont
settle for McDonalds to have a celebratory meal.
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weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a
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