Nov 10,2009 - Preparations..
Erasing out all the thoughts about my semester exams, food, movies, etc... I stepped into the PAP shooting range, Jalandhar(Punjab). We were literally shivering. A team of about 15 members had qualified for this Nationals. It was a commodious range with all the modern facilities. There were shooters from all over India. I saw all kinds of weapons and equipments. We (civilians) had to compete with ncc army, navy, bsf, railways.. which was very tough. We had to finish the weapon check and book our lanes on the first day. Weapon check was the most gruelling task. Waiting with the weapon outside the room with the shooting jackets and gloves put on drains out half the energy. Finally after 4 hours it was my turn. There was a corpulent officer whose looks were intimidating. My weapon check was successful. " Shooting coat - perfect.. gloves - perfect.. shoes - sole bahuth bada hai - rejected!". I was not dejected as my weapon check was over without any problem. Finally, moved on to the practice zone. Tamilnadu team was given two lanes for two hours which was not suffice. The intractable wind annoyed us. Anyways, I tried to set my weapon in the new range.
Nov 12,2009 - The final match!
I was there at the range around 9 am. I missed the curd rice (secret of my energy). The first slot had already begun. My prone match was at 10.30 am. I had a chance to meet efflorescence shooters like Gagan Narang, Tejaswini Sawant, Samaresh Jung, Shwetha Chaudhary and a few more. It was 10.20 am. The officer told the shooters of the second slot to occupy their lanes. Though it was my second nationals, I felt jittery when I occupied my lane. I looked around and was surprised to find Lajja Goswami (world no.1 junior shooter) in the lane next to me. "Your preparation time begins now", commanded the officer. I adjusted my scope, checked for my id card, glucose water,etc.. "3.2.1... Commence fire". My hands were numb and the weapon was cold. I started my sighter card. Fortunately, I was able to set my weapon in 10 shots and started off with my record shots. We had to shoot 60 shots and unlimited sighters in 1hr 30 min. My first four series was pretty good (10 shots per series). I was getting an average of 95. "Focus" was the only word which i had in my mind, but i lost my stamina in the last two series and my score reduced gradually. I should have taken a break. I made a blunder by calculating the time wrongly. I was in a state of vertigo when I completed my match. When the results were displayed in the notice board, I was happy to see that i got 560, my personal best. Finally, into the national team!! Each match taught me a new lesson and some tactics and this was the best match I had ever participated.
