State shooting c’ship culminates at PAP Sports Complex
Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 30
Bringing cheers to the budding shooters in the district, the shooting range at the Punjab Armed Police Sports Complex will soon be upgraded to a digital one as Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, also the chairman of the Punjab Rifle Shooting Association (PRSA), has announced a grant of Rs 32 lakh for the purpose.
The grant was announced during the investiture ceremony of the 50th Punjab State Shooting Championship held at Punjab Armed Police (PAP) Sports Complex here in Jalandhar today.
Earlier, the Sports Department had planned a mini-exchange at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium with around 5 laser targets. However, commending the bravery shown by the Punjab Police in foiling Dinanagar terrorist attack, the minister announced the grant to PAP.
He urged ADGP Sanjeev Kalra to make the range public-friendly and to felicitate all types of shooters coming from all economic backgrounds.
“The players should feel it as a shooting range and not a police unit with all the uniform bearing people moving left to right,” the minister said.
The state government is committed to providing all necessary facilities, including provision of world-class training from foreign coaches to the players, he added.
Majithia said the sports budget in the state had been enhanced to Rs 200 crore annually from a paltry Rs 12 crore in Congress regime.
The participation and performance of shooters in the state has been very encouraging since the last one year. The participation in district and state-level championships has almost doubled and the performance of players has also been very encouraging.
Also, the government has set a target for maximum representation of state players in the Indian contingent for Rio Olympics-2016 and identified shooting as a major sport for increasing the medal tally of the country.
Punjab has done exceptionally well in the Kerala National Games-2015 where it won 7 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze medals, the maximum any state has won in a single championship during the entire event.
Due to its performance in shooting, the state managed to rise up from 13th to 5th position in the overall category.
The state has recently disbursed cash awards worth Rs 71 lakh to the shooters who have won laurels in the state since 2010.
Also, there has been an upward trend reported in participation in the state championship this year. Around 750 players with maximum strength from Jalandhar and Bathinda participated in the five-day event as compared to 350 last year.
To avoid controversy similar to the selection of players for the Kerala National Games earlier this year, a special 7-member team from the National Rifle Shooting Association (NRSA) was called for to record and prepare the scores during the tournament.
Prominent persons present on the occasion included MLA Pargat Singh, Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishor Yadav, ADGP Sanjeev Kalra, secretary of the Punjab Oylmpic Association Raja K Sidhu, chairman, Zila Parishad Hoshiarpur, Sarbjot Singh Sabhi, Parminnder Brar and secretary, sports, PAP, Navjot Mann.
Results
Air pistol junior women Disha Kukana: Gold
Kiranjot Kaur: Silver
Sarita Kumari: Bronze
Sports rifle 3P junior women (NR)
Namrata Arora: Gold
Chahatdeep Kaur: Silver
Dalreen Kaur: Bronze
Sporst rifle 3P women (NR)
Sandeep Kaur: Gold
Lauvpret Kaur: Silver
Babandeep Kaur: Bronze
3P men (NR)
Amandeep Singh: Gold
Munish Gill: Silver
Abhayraj: Bronze
Centre fire men category
Maninder Singh: Gold
Arshdeep Singh: Silver
Hunardeep Singh: Bronze
Sports rifle 3-P women (ISSF category)
Avneet Kaur Sidhu: Gold
Namrata Arora: Silver
Chahatdeep Kaur: Bronze
Standard pistol men category
Sukhdev Singh Cheema: Gold
Jasveer Singh: Silver
Maninder Singh: Bronze
