Angad Bajwa tops the ranking charts in Asia

Vinayak Padmadeo

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 6

Angad Vir Singh Bajwa has been crowned No. 1 in Asia in the new updated list that was released early this week. Bajwa got the news of him becoming the first Indian skeet shooter to reach the top spot in Asia from his personal coach Tore Brovold.

Bajwa is training in Larnaca, Cyprus, before hitting the road with two back-to-back ISSF World Cups — in Nicosia from March 4 to 13 and then in New Delhi from March 15 to 26.

But for a fleeting moment to soak in the achievement, the 25-year-old Bajwa moved back to resume his job of shooting down targets.

“I was happy when Tore told me about the new rankings,” Bajwa told The Tribune on Thursday. “And I must have bagged a lot of points for winning the Asian Championships so it was kind of expected that once the new list is released I will be up there. It is a good feeling to be number one in Asia but I have much stiffer targets to achieve and a lot of hard work is required to get there,” he added.

Bajwa has been asked by his coach to try and shoot in different ranges leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Games, and Larnaca and Nicosia are his first stops before heading to participate in the Doha Grand Prix.

Training to master variables

As per Bajwa, skeet is perhaps the most technical of the shotgun events, and as it is an outdoor sport, there are a lot of variables to consider. And the Chandigarh shooter was made to shoot in rain, when he was ready to pack his bags and head to the hotel.

“He (Tore) told me to open my case and shoot while it was pouring,” Bajwa said. “He told me ‘what if it rains in Tokyo?’ so I trained. But the general idea is to try and shoot in many different ranges before Tokyo. For instance, here in Cyprus, I am shooting in Nicosia in the morning and then in Larnaca later on,” he added.

While he is yet to finalise his plan for the year, Bajwa will definitely be competing in two ISSF World Cups, besides shooting in the test event in Tokyo before the Olympics.

“Because I have not shot in any of the trials this year, Tore wants me to participate in the Doha Grand Prix (Feb 19-29) before heading to the World Cups. We have plans for the next two months and depending on how the results go we will plan the next phase,” he said.