CHANDIGARH: Olympic-bound
skeet
shooter
Angad Vir Singh Bajwa
makes do with a shotgun range at home, while the boxers train in Europe, wrestler Bajrang Punia is in the US, and Vinesh Phogat will be in Tokyo after Poland and Hungary for a 40-day camp from January 24.
The
National Rifle Association of India
(
NRAI
) has forbidden foreign training.
Bajwa said: "Rifle and pistol shooters can train indoors but the skeet team needs outdoor sessions to get into rhythm. If boxers and wrestlers can train abroad, why can't we."
India's first continental skeet gold medallist wants to train in Italy or Cyprus.
Bajwa, who travels twice a week to Patiala for a change of range, said: "I am lucky to have a
shooting
range at my grandparent's farmhouse in Derabassi but skeet training needs different ranges and conditions, similar to golf, where you have to adjust to wind, altitude, or lightning. In skeet, every swing is different, as the target keeps moving. You have to maintain concentration and stay in shape."
Last November, he skipped the NRAI's one-month training camp for the Olympic core group. The next will be from January 26.
The 25-year-old shooter said: "I missed the last camp because Delhi was a
Covid-19
hotspot then. Also shooting isn't a team sport."
Asked how the pandemic had affected his preparation, he replied: "It broke my momentum. Shooters follow a calendar and plan out the tournaments to play, but the uncertainty didn't let me plan anything. I should be in Cyprus or Italy, but it depends on the federation. My coach, Tore Brovold, is in Norway, and I am struck in Chandigarh."
Brovold, silver medallist from the Beijing Olympics, uses video call to give Angad ideas to implement on the range.
The pandemic can even be a blessing in disguise.
Bajwa said: "All my fellow skeet shooters are frustrated but the positive thing is they have started training for the Olympics. The lockdown gave me time to work on my fitness and diet. The coach worked out a good plan."
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