Indian shooters may fall short of ammunition again

Ask any Indian shooter about the biggest problem he or she faces in training and the answer would invariably be ammunition.

This age-old bugbear of shooters may resurface in the Commonwealth Games ( CWG), thanks to the low amount of ammunition imported by the organising committee (OC) for competitions.

Sources told Mail Today that while the initial demand at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges had been for 200,000 cartridges for shotgun, the eventual supply that has been approved and despatched to the ranges is in the region of 40,000 cartridges.

One shooter, who is part of the national team, was worried that the cartridges might not be enough to last till the end of the Games. “ We will have about 120 shooters in all the shotgun competitions – skeet, trap and double trap. The total number of cartridges that will be needed for the main event and the pre- event training adds up to about 30,000,” the shooter told Mail Today on Friday.

“ Given the fact that the team consists of eight shooters, 10,000 might not be enough for us, especially once the foreigners arrive.” He also pointed out restrictions imposed at the ranges. “ A shooter requires 150 cartridges for four rounds of trap shooting and three rounds of double trap, but at the ranges, we have been told trap shooters can’t take more than 100 per day and skeet not more than 75 because then there won’t be enough left for the competition,” he claimed. “ We had to literally fight to get another 50 and it was only after we asked the venue administrator to intervene that we got the cartridges today.” The shooter also said that the number of practice rounds couldn’t be ascertained beforehand to calculate the average usage. “ Our coach Marcello Dradi is here and if he wants me to shoot a third or a fourth round to help me prepare better, I can’t say no,” he said.

When contacted, Avtar Singh Sethi, officiating president of the National Rifle Association of India ( NRAI) and competition manager, said the ammunition would suffice.

“ Whatever out shooters are asking for, we are giving them in order to maximise our medals. I can assure you the ammunition won’t fall short because we have enough to give to our boys and girls,” he said.

With just eight days to go for the Games, the hope has to be that the OC’s calculations are accurate for once