It Was Some Good Old Fashioned Indian Jugaad That Got Saurabh Chaudhary A Gold Medal At Asian Games

Saurabh Chaudhary, all of 16, has bagged an Asian Games gold, making everyone wonder how a humble sugarcane farmer's son from Meerut can become an ace shooter at such a young age.

The answer lies in the Baghpat rifle club where he trains. ¡®Our aim is Olympics', reads the graffiti on the walls of the Veer Shahmal Rifle Club where Saurabh started his journey three years ago.

As part of practice, students at the shooting range are made to stretch their arms, like it is done while holding a gun, and hang a bangle-like strap on their wrist attached to a brick (with a weight according to their age).

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This is done to perfect their grip. Several other indigenous tricks like concentrating on body movement in a dark room are used to train young shooters here.

Set up in 2011 by Amit Sheoran, a resident of Baghpat's Johri village which is famous for producing medal-winning shooters, the club had just one air rifle and one air pistol in the beginning, with four students who wanted to learn shooting.

Sheoran, who himself wanted to be a shooter and trained for a year, had to struggle hard to start the indoor shooting range covering 150 yards. "After Saurabh's victory, I feel that I am finally getting closer to my dream.

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I couldn't pursue shooting as a career, but I am living my dream through students like him," said Sheoran, adding that his heart longs for an Olympic gold.

"When I started the rifle club, I did not have much money. In fact the land on which the range is set up was given to me by my maternal uncle. Due to a fund crunch, I devised techniques like using a bangle-like strap attached to a brick to improve grip.

Initially, we used just a rope, but later we brought in plastic bands so that students do not end up hurting their wrists," Saurabh's coach said.

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The same exercise can be performed with dumbbells, but Sheoran feels that it may lead to hardening of fingers, which is not good for shooters. Students standing in a queue with a brick hanging from their wrist are a common sight here.

"I ask all my students to stand in their room in the shooting position, with their eyes closed and lights off, and feel their body movements. This helps them while taking the aim because there are several body movements that we are unable to notice when our eyes are open," Sheoran said.

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Among the prodigies produced at the shooting range is Deependra Singh, who had won gold and set a world record of 238.3 in the men's 10m air pistol event at the Para Shooting World Cup in Bangkok in 2017.

"It isn't about world-class equipment or facilities. It's about the hard work you put in and how determined you are to do well," said Sheoran.