Governor shoots a silver in his first pro event

Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 25

Age is just a number, as Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore proved on Tuesday.

Participating in a professional shooting event for the first time in his life, Badnore, 70, won the silver medal in the veterans category of the trap event in the GV Mavalankar Shooting Championship in Bhopal.

“I want to make it clear that my aim was not to win a medal here, it was to visit the shooting facility and see if we can have something better than this in our region,” Badnore told The Tribune.

The tournament is being held at the MP Shooting Academy range in Bhopal.

Admittedly, the field was rather sparse with only four contestants, but Badnore did well to score 14 points, nine points behind gold winner Pravinsinh Jaysingrao Ghatge of Maharashtra.

The trap event involves shooting at flying clay targets released from a spring trap. Badnore had been preparing for the Bhopal tournament by practising at the New Moti Bagh shooting range in Patiala. “Our officials and architects are not aware about the latest technology or infrastructure,” said Badnore. 

“Here, my team has gone through every aspect of the facility. We are now going to build a world-class shooting range in Chandigarh, which will also cater to the shooters of Punjab.” “Overall, it was a good learning experience. The shooting range we want to build in Chandigarh will have more facilities,” he said. 

“We have decided to provide this facility to the budding shooters, so we have to have a world-class range.” 

As for his own shooting feat, Badnore laughed: “Yes, indeed it was good. But I am more happy to visit the facility than winning this medal.”