Olympic quota on Vijay's mind despite injury

PANAJI: The life of a shooter is never easy, especially when carrying the burden of the country’s expectations.
The shoulders droop, yet they lift their beloved guns and rifles without fretting over the weight and aftereffects.
India's silver-medalist at the London Olympics, Vijay Kumar, long ago exchanged vows with firearms. But little did he have an inkling that it would lead to debilitating injury.
A little before the 2012 Olympics, he first complained of pain in the right shoulder, which has only got worse over a period of time due to "overused muscles".
And, as luck would have it, an injury in the cervical vertebrae might well prove to be a setback to his preparations for the World Championships. The tournament, which starts in Granada, Spain, from September 6, will offer a couple of quota places in the 25m rapid fire pistol for the 2016 Rio Olympics. A poor result in the event means the army marksman has to wait till next year when he will get five chances — four World Cups and an Asian Shooting Championship — to seal a quota for India in his discipline.
"I believe the injury has been there since the Olympics. I never got it screened properly. It healed for sometime but again recurred before the Commonwealth Games due to excessive practice. As it got only worse I flew to Mumbai to get it checked. With an MRI it is clear that the cervical vertebrae are affected badly and if things take a turn for the worse, I will undergo a surgery after the Asian Games," said the 28year-old.
An MRI of his spine shows his vertebral discs have "large extrusions with inferior migration (C5-C6) and lateral recess foraminal disc protrusion lumbar (C6C7)". Vijay’s physio Nikhil Latey of Olympic Gold Quest commented: "The fact that he has to lift a one-and-a-half kilo gun day in and day out has left the vertebral discs damaged. It’s a bit like arthritis, whenever you climb stairs it gets worse." Vijay will leave for Hannover, Germany, to prepare for the World Championships.
"I will train maybe for half a day and take rest the next day. People feel shooting has more to do with one’s ability to focus. But your performance is bound to get affected if you don’t receive the right response from your body," Vijay added.