BENGALURU: When the pandemic struck India last year, India's para shooter Singhraj Adhana could not sleep. His Paralympic preparations had come to a standstill. The man from Bahadurgarh in Haryana spoke to athletes from other countries who informed him that their training had not halted, which made him further worried. He was restless with no practice for months, and it was when his coaches suggested an idea of building a shooting range that he immediately chalked out a design overnight.
And it was around June, when restrictions gradually eased, that the para shooter got a team of highly skilled workers and started working on his mega plan. In around five months, they had come up with a shooting range at his home. However, it was not an easy job to convince his parents.
"I informed my family members that I want to make a range at home, and they were initially angry as the cost would run into lakhs. I told them I was not able to sleep and the Paralympics was also coming up," said Singhraj in a virtual press conference.
"My family finally agreed to it, but told me that I should spend the money such that they should also be able to feed the family (for the future) as there was the lockdown also. So I made a 10m and 50m range at home. NRAI (National Rifle Association of India) and PCI (Paralympics Committee of India) cooperated with me a lot and they also gave the permission to make the range so I managed to make an international standard one because of which I was able to come here and deliver."
All his dedication and hours of practice came to fruition on Tuesday. Singhraj managed to take home the bronze medal in the P1 men's 10m air pistol SH1 event with a total score of 216.8 at the Aska Shooting Range in Tokyo. All eyes were on him in the final after Manish Narwal, who had topped the qualification stage, bowed out earlier than expected. But Singhraj showed great character to win a medal for India. “I am very happy with it, but my coaches and me had a dream of winning the gold medal, that is incomplete, but I am happy.” said Singhraj, who is afflicted with polio.
What makes this medal winning feat even more special is the fact that the 39-year-old only got into the sport four years back, that too by chance. Once he accompanied his nephew to a shooting range, and as coaches were passing instructions to the shooters at the venue, Singhraj began laughing.
Why? Because, he thought it was very easy. The coaches were amused at the time, and asked him to hit a few shots at the range. Despite shooting for the first time, he impressed as he hit the inner black four of the five shots and also hit a couple of 10s.
“They (coaches) were very happy with my shots and asked if I had done shooting earlier. I said no. They motivated me and told that there is para shooting, the government also supports and you can do something for the country, which I always wanted from my junior days. I had done some social work also, but I was not satisfied. After coming to shooting, I came to know this is a great thing to do for my country. Then, I gave it all in the sport,” added Singhraj.