Sreejesh targets New Zealand tournament to regain confidence
year, when the ISSF axed the men’s double trap, 50m rifle prone and 50m pistol from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it received flak from the biggest names in world shooting. The move was to raise women’s Olympics participation to 50% by Tokyo 2020. Double trap -- hugely popular in India -- was replaced by trap mixed team, while 10m air rifle mixed team replaced 50m rifle prone. The men’s 50m pistol event was replaced by 10m air pistol mixed team. When three events have been added for women, what was the need to change the qualification format for women two years before the Olympics? Ideally, such changes should happen after the Games.
Reducing the number of shots from 60 to 40 for men would have levelled the field, made it exciting and ensured faster qualification. The Bundesliga in Germany, the world’s top shooting league, has a 40-shot format in air rifle and the best in the world compete there. Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang have taken part there.
The biggest challenge for shooting is to make it spectator friendly. I have shot at the World Cup and international competitions. Apart from the shooters, coaches and team officials, hardly anyone else is interested to watch. The Karni Singh Ranges in Delhi during the 2010 CWG saw poor audience. In the ISSF World Cup Finals in 2017, there were absolutely no spectators.
After the 2012 London Olympics, ISSF had made all finals longer. Though the elimination format has made it more interesting, it has made the finals longer. Extending the qualification phase for women only adds to it.
Earlier, it took 50 minutes to finish a 40-shot match. Now, it will take 75 minutes.
Since the 2012 Olympics, shooters don’t carry forward qualification scores into the finals. So, it doesn’t matter whether qualification shots are 40 or 60. Fewer shots would also help save on ammunition and targets. The worst hit is the women’s 3-position event where competitors will have to shoot double of what they have done. The duration goes up from
75 minutes to 2 hours, 45 minutes, and will test a shooter’s stamina. One wonders if it’s shooting or a marathon race! LUCKNOW: PR Sreejesh, who missed some key tournaments in 2017, including the World Hockey League Final at Bhubneshwar last month, due to a knee injury is back in action and is raring to go.
“I am up for challenges. Feeling fit and energetic with my pads on, I am raring to go,” Sreejesh told Hindustan Times after being named in 20-member squad for a four-nation tournament in New Zealand. “I had to teach myself to walk and run again during rehabilitation,” Sreejesh said added.
“Every tournament is important to me and I need to give my best. Even though I was nursing my injuries for the last eight months, I never lost my focus on the game. But my priority was to recover fully from the injury,” he said, adding Hockey India as well as the Sports Authority of India ensured he got the best treatment.
In New Zealand, India will compete with Belgium, Japan and hosts New Zealand at Tauranga and Hamilton, and Sreejesh wants to make this opportunity to get back his confidence and fitness. “Such events will help me strengthen my fitness and confidence. After recovering from the injury, it’s altogether a different world and to excel in these conditions, I have to give my best,”
Sreejesh, who has been put on a 12-month probation by Hockey India’s disciplinary committee for taking part in a charity football match during his injury layoff, claimed that he respects Hockey India’s decision. “Playing in the football match was a one-off incident but my focus has always remained on coming back into the team,” Sreejesh said.
India squad: Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak; Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Birendra Lakra; Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (C), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Harjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Simranjeet Singh and Satbir Singh; Forwards: Dilpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Armaan Qureshi.