THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Paraplegic shooter Sidhartha Babu was a disheartened man after being turned down by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to compete in the 35th National Games 2015. However, the 37-year-old is now smiling in the face of adversity after emerging as a state champion rubbing shoulders with top professional shooters on Sunday.
Sidhartha scored 580 of 600 points to emerge as the winner in the 50-metre rifle prone event and came on top of second-placed Sreechirag Mukundan (578 points) and third-placed Ron George (577 points) in the 49th Kerala State Shooting Championship that concluded at Muttom, Idukki.
The wheelchair bound shooter is paralysed waist-below following a road accident in 2002 was denied from participating in the National Games with normal shooters. However, since then, the NRAI has allowed Sidhartha to compete in the prone category where the shooters lie flat with chest down and back up.
“Sidhartha’s achievement has to be commended and it is no mean for a physically-challenged individual to fend off competition from normal shooters,” said Vipin Das, coach of the Kerala state shooting team. “He is a talented individual and hardworking shooter,” the coach said.
“I could have competed in events only for the differently-abled, but decided to test myself among others here. So, it is a proud moment to win this gold medal competing against the top shooters in Kerala,” said Sidhartha whose next objective is to repeat the good showing in the national shooting championships.
Regarding his plans to compete in other positions as well, Sidhartha said he is expecting a positive response from the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). “When we appealed to the ISSF, they informed us that this was a special scenario and told us they needed to work up new rules to allow differently-abled individuals into the sport,” Sidhartha said.
After the National Games debacle, Sidhartha has competed in five International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Shooting World Cups and is now ranked 20th in world rankings among paralympic shooters.