Shooting ranges trigger Olympic dreams in Thane and Dombivli

Every time he slings his rectangular, cheek-high bla-ck case on a shoulder, Rudrankksh Patil prepares to lie. “Is that a keyboard?” a stranger might ask and Patil will simply say yes because that saves time. And because saying, “No, it's a rifle,” may not the best idea for a 13-year-old on public transport. The cherubic teen who wants to be an Olympic shooter is standing in the basement of Thane’s People’s Education Society High School, getting his customary dose of target practice right in the middle of term exams.Ever since the Major Subhash Gavand Rifle And Pistol Shooting Range was set up in 2013, Patil has been a regular. “Before this, I used to travel two hours dailyto Dadar for practice,” says the Thane resident.
To plug this geographical gap for aspiring marksmen like Patil, three shooting ranges havesprung up in Thane and Dombivli over the last three years. Here, you will not only find kids as young as 10 but also doctors, lawyers, bankers, housewives, cops and even an 85-year-old taking a serious shot at training in the Olympic sport without an age limit. While these three privately-owned ranges—that each cost over Rs 5 lakh —are inside two schools and a college, the Thane Municipal Corporation is soon planning to launch its own 16-lane shooting range inthe city's Dadoji Konddev Stadium at Rs 25 lakh. A nod to the soaring popularity of the sport that was first brought to limelight by shooter Abhinav Bindra’s gold in the 2008 Olympics, the trend also reflects the urge of shooting enthusiasts to expand the reach of the sport and tap young talent.
Last year, right after launching branches in Malad and Worli, competitive shooter Ronak Pandit opened a branch of his Goregaon pistol shooting centre in Thane’s St Xavier’s English Hig School.“I want the sport to reach the masses,” says Pandit. Given that a typical range needs at least 10 metres of room—a luxury in Mumbai—tieups with schools and sports clubs are inevitable. Predictably, the venue decides the client profile. Unlike Pandit’s Goregaon facility, which is in a sports club and boasts working professionals, the Thane range sees a majority of school students. “Within a year,” informs Tushar Gudhka who coaches at the Thane range, “five shooters have already qualified for the state level.”
Among them is 32-year-old Hemangi Vibhute, the mother of a two-year-old. In 2004, this Nahur resident had learnt air rifle shooting as part of National Cadet Corps in college but then, life came in the way. Last year, however, the itch to learn air pistol shooting saw Vibhute—who works as a project manager in Airoli—sign up at the Manpada facility “as it offered exclusive coaching in pistol shooting.” To train here for two hours daily, Vibhute would travel for an hour daily after work. Compared to air rifle shooting, which entails the use of heavy gear, Vibhute finds pistol shooting much easier. “Here, you only have to rely on your body,” says Vibhute, who took home the bronze medal at the recent Captain S J Ezekiel Memorial Maharashtra State Shooting Championship. The sport has turned the shy Vibhute into a confident communicator, she admits.
While the rewards are many, training can be expensive with courses charging a few thousands tojust over a lakh annually. The Gun For Glory Shooting Academy—an air-conditioned, 12-lane air pistol and air rifle shooting range that opened in Dombivli’s Pendharkar college last year—charges Rs 1.25 lakh per year. Besides, buying your own ammunition could easily set you back by a couple of lakhs. “But parents are more aware now and are ready to spend that much,” says coach Sanyukta Gupte, adding that they have started receiving more enquiries after the recent Olympics.
The problem is that such awareness comes loaded with expectations. Coach Snehal Kadam of Major Subhash Gavand Shooting Range, says pressure from parents who enroll kids in too many classes coupled with the struggle to get funding “before becoming established shooters” owes to “our nation’s lack of sports culture”. “There needs to be a policy change at the grassroot level,” says Kadam, who reads target sheets like tarot cards. In the pellet holes, she finds weaknesses. A ninth-grader is told to improve her body language, another kid is asked to control his ‘body sway’ and Police Sub Inspector Sandesh Gavand is told that the part between his right thumb and forefinger needs to be stronger. “Sadly, such nitty-gritties as how drinking water before a match alters cheek pressure are still not common knowledge,” grouses Kadam.
Interestingly, many of the cen- tres boast an equal sex ratio and the male coaches will tell you that women are invariably better at the sport. However, Hemangi Vibhute—who once carried her Rs 1.6 lakh-worth Styer pistol to work startling the security in-charge—is contemplating striking the hobby off her resume. “Can you kill?” an interviewer at a Japanese firm asked her, his curiosity bordering on concern. “At the most, the pistol can cause an injury," was her reply. “‘I think that’s probably why I didn't get the job," smiles Vibhute.