City shooter wins silver in S'pore

AHMEDABAD: Krushnakumar Baz, 36, won a silver in the 50 metre firearm shooting competition held in Singapore on July 17. The event was the Singapore Open Shooting Competition, 2011, a world cup qualifying event organized by members of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF). This was Baz's first international event in which he became the first Gujarati to win at the Singapore meet. The competition saw shooters from 70 countries. Typically an air-rifle shooter Baz had noinclination to participate in the firearm category in which he ultimately wonsilver for the country. It was only after ace India shooter Jaspal Ranasuggested Baz's name to complete the firearm team of three that led Baz to jointhe team. Baz is a conservation assistant in the Ahmedabad sub circle ofArchealogical Survey of India (ASI) and was officially sent to participate inthe competition."I had to hire a 0.22 peep sight Anschutz rifle fromthe venue to take part in the firearm section as I was carrying an air-gun.Firearm was never my expertise. It was in January 2010 that I had last fired 500rounds from a 0.22 rifle at Ahmedabad rifle club for a regional competition. Infact in the air gun section which is my forte, I could not even win a bronze inthis open competition. Jaspal Rana had suggested that I take part in the firearmevent", says Baz.Baz with his team members, Sanjay Kumar Tomar ofthe Indian army and Anant Yogi had scored 3113 points. The shooting competitionallows 120 cartridges for every shooter. "One has to shoot 40 cartridges each inthe prone, standing and kneeling positions. The highest one can score is thebullseye which is 10 points. I scored 363 points in the kneeling position whichwas the highest among my scores," says Baz. Buddy partner Kumar scored 1050points while Yogi scored 1045 points in the competition. On thefirearm category medal Baz says, "Firearm category is the costliest, eachcartridge costs Rs 40 and a German make 0.22 rifle to fire these costs Rs 3lakh. Contrary to this air gun category comes cheaper as a can containing 800air-gun pellets costs Rs 500. For six years I have been shooting 200 air pelletsevery weekend. But in Singapore I won in the firearm category in which I hadleast practice."