Vadodara shooters bring laurels for Baroda Rifle Club

VADODARA: By now winning has become a second nature for Deepak Ramdas Halwai and Ishwar Singh, the honorary secretary and vice-president respectively of one of the oldest rifle clubs of Gujarat, the Baroda Rifle Club (BRC) .
But, this year's win by two shooters at the state-level shooting championship in Ahmedabad last week was sweeter than ever before because other than notching personal records, the two BRC office-bearers are also basking in the glory of their other members' achievements.Competitors from the club managed to win 37 medals at the championship organized by Ahmedabad Military and Rifle Training Association in Khanpur.
Deepak Halwai won the 15th consecutive gold medal in his category, which involved shooting in three positions, prone, standing and kneeling. In the last 15 years, he has broken four of his old records and still remains the record holder in 50 metre, .22 standard rifle, open sight 3- position, men individual category till date.
Ishwar Singh's 10th consecutive win is also a record of sorts in 50 metre, open sight, prone category in which he uses a .22 rifle. He is also an international judge - the only such qualified person outside Ahmedabad--for all rifle and pistol shooting competitions, other than Olympics.
The royal sport of shooting is in the duo's blood -- Ishwar's father Colonel Shamsher Singh, a recipient of 'Rajvallabh', was the ADC and minister in waiting of late Maharaja Pratapsinh Gaekwad, while Deepak's grandfather was the personal bodyguard of legendary Gaekwadi ruler Sayajirao.
Their own wins have come in the midst of several hardships- the club does not have a shooting range of its own, it has to depend on the local NCC range for their practice, which invariably happens only a day or two before the championship . "I pick up rifle only four times in a year, that is, before every championship," says Deepak, while Ishwar nods.
The club is also facing severe shortage of cartridges for almost two years now. "We hold dry practices most of the time," reveals Ishwar. They also have only one international standard weapon for about 250-300 active members.