Siachen to Jakarta, Amit’s fiery tale

PALEMBANG: He survived a nearly two-year posting in Siachen. He was asked to leave the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, following a prolonged shoulder injury when even picking up the rifle became difficult. And he lost most of his shooting equipment.

It would have been easy for Amit Kumar, 31, to quit but for this big bore rifle shooter from Muzaffarnagar that was never an option.

So, after Amit had lost most of his equipment while travelling from Delhi to Mhow, he pawned household items and his brother took a loan. This happened after Amit won bronze in the 50m rifle prone at the Asian Championships in Kuwait in 2006.

On Thursday, Amit will compete at the Asian Games for the first time.

“I had to pay about ~4 lakh to save my job, otherwise an inquiry would have started and I could even have been courtI

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I was thrown out of AMU as only the best can train and compete there. The urge to return to competitive shooting kept me going.

AMIT KUMAR, shooter

marshalled,” said Amit, who started off as a 50m rifle prone and 3-position shooter before a left shoulder injury forced him to take up big bore.

“Around 2007-08, my left shoulder started to hurt. It quickly got worse, leaving me unable to even grip the rifle or lift my arm. I also had a constant tremor in my left hand. Still I persisted, took strong pain-killers, but after sometime I could not even grip the gun,” he said.

“I was prescribed six month’s rest by one Lt Col Chauhan in 2008. But when I returned to active shooting, I couldn’t fire 10 shots properly before having to let go of my rifle. That was a very tough phase of my life.

“I was thrown out of AMU as only the best can train and compete there. Back with my unit, the Second Grenadiers, I had several tough postings, the longest being in Siachen where I was on the frontline and could see Pakistani soldiers training their guns on us.

“In those inhospitable conditions, taking even 10 steps leaves you panting. I’ve seen death from close quarters.”

“But the urge to return to competitive shooting kept me going.” kept saving from the allowance of ~15,000 we get for being posted in Siachen and saved enough to buy a rifle. And when I got orders to return to my unit, I bought a new 50m rifle. Between 2009 and 2016 when I was posted in different parts of India, I began training. A chance posting in Congo with the United Nations’ forces helped me save some more for the rifle,” he said.

“But I realised that getting back my place at AMU was tough. I was nowhere near my best. So, I took up big bore shooting and during the 2016 National championships, I broke the national record of 573 by three points.

“That brought me back to the AMU and I was happy to be back with shooters I had trained with before I was asked to leave. Sadly, Vijay Kumar (Olympic silver-medallist in rapid fire) had quit the Army by then.”

“I recently bought a big bore rifle, not the high-end ones, and it cost ~6.5 lakh. My brother Vipin Kumar is helping me dream again.”