Delhi shooters excelled at the just-concluded 67th National Shooting Championship held at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in the national capital, improving their medal tally from the previous edition.
At the championship, which ended on January 5, Delhi shooters won a total of 21 medals, including six gold, 10 silver, and five bronze, enabling the state to finish sixth in the overall medal standings out of 23 states and institutions.
At the previous National Championships, Delhi had won five gold, five silver, and nine bronze medals, totalling 19 medals.
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Out of the 21 medals Delhi won this time, individual shooters claimed five gold and an equal number of silver medals. In the team events, however, Delhi lagged behind, winning just one gold, besides bagging five silver and five bronze medals.
The breakup of Delhi’s 21 medals is as follows: In the Open category, the state won a total of six medals to finish ninth among 23 teams. In the civilian category (pistol), Delhi finished a credible fourth with 12 medals among 13 teams. In the ‘para’ section, the national capital was overall third with three medals, including two gold, in the seventeam competition.
In individual competitions, two women shooters stood out for Delhi. Niyamicka Rana, just 14, won three medals, including two gold medals (50m junior civilian women and 10m air pistol subyouth women) and a silver (10m air pistol junior civilian women).
On the other hand, 20-year-old para shooter Adiba Ali clinched two gold medals — 10m air pistol (IPC) junior women (SH1), and 50m pistol (IPC) mixed (SH1) junior.
Earlier in 2024, Niyamicka, a Class X student of GD Goenka Public School (Sector 22, Rohini), won silver medals in 50m junior women individual and in 50m women individual at the 43rd North Zone Pistol competition, besides winning several other medals at state – level competitions.
Adiba, currently a student of BA Honours (English), won gold in the junior 50m at the 5th Para Zonal Shooting Championship in Pune last year. Additionally, she bagged three silver medals — junior 10m, team, and junior 50m — at the 5th Para National Shooting Championship, also held in Pune. At the 43rd North Zone Shooting Championship 2024, she clinched silver in the junior 50m category.
Jaspal Rana, former world pistol champion and current chairman of the Delhi State Rifle Association (DSRA), was pleased with the performance of Delhi shooters, though he looks at the larger picture rather pragmatically.
“It’s good, but the more important thing is that participation from Delhi shooters in the Nationals is increasing. And that is positive news,” Rana told Patriot.
Rana also dwelled on the additional burden that competing states have had to bear over the last few years since the separation of national pistol and rifle competitions.
“Since the rifle and pistol events are held separately, my responsibilities have increased as half of the officials were here in Delhi and half of them were in Bhopal [for rifle events]. For a state federation, which has to appoint coaches and managers etc., its strength gets divided between the two national events,” he outlined.
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“And since the events go on for a month or so, not all the officials get leave from their offices. Earlier, people who would accompany the teams were required to take leave for just six-seven days. Now that is not possible. So, you have to hire professionals etc. to meet the demand. However, it is okay for shooters,” Rana said.
