If the learning curve improves, shooting curve will naturally come up, says Suma Shirur

If the learning curve improves, shooting curve will naturally come up, says Suma Shirur

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Suma Shirur, the High Performance Coach for the junior Indian rifle team, has said that young Indian shooters should learning technique and train properly to succeed. She credited both the National Rifle Association of India and the former shooters for the upsurge of young shooters.

The rise of young Indian shooters in India and in international tournaments has been well documented over the last few months. The rich haul at the seasonā€™s first ISSF World Cup in Mexico, the Commonwealth Games saw teenagers Manu Bhaker, Mehuli Ghosh, and Anish Bhanwala help India amass a big medal tally. At the Junior Shooting World Cup in Sydney in May, India claimed nine gold to finish second behind China in the medal tally.

But even as the medals and the records have come in, it is their consistency in scores that has been the bigger takeaway for the sport. Suma Shirur, who was appointed the High-Performance Coach for the junior Indian rifle team this year, has insisted that the focus is on maintaining this consistency with the correct training and technique.

ā€œFor juniors, it is more important to stay consistent with scores. The learning curve has to go up, the shooting curve will naturally come up,ā€ Shirur told The Field on the sidelines of the 18th KSS Memorial Shooting Championship.

The 44-year-old former 10m air rifle joint-world record holder says her focus in this new role is to build youngsters with proper technique.

ā€I have just started this year so it is going to be a slow task. The main goal would be to create youngsters with good basic techniques. Equip them with the right basics to be part of the senior team as well. As long as they are juniors, we want to see more and more medals won at international competitions,ā€ Shirur added.

For the emergence of youngsters in recent years, she credited both National Rifle Association of India for their investment in the juniors and the former shooters for building small shooting ranges which helped youngsters due to accessibility.

ā€œWe have a strong junior core group and the levels have increased over the years I have to give credit to NRAI for their vision in investing in the junior program, in the last couple of years.

ā€œA lot of our ex shooters have taken it upon themselves by starting shooting ranges, coaching and giving back to the sport they are passionate about. Each of us who has been there is somehow trying their best to give it back. Now with our positions we are able to give back. These shooters have created small ranges in the country which has given people the opportunity, the chance to gain access to a sport like shooting,ā€ the former Olympic finalist revealed.

She also highlighted the fact that there was high-quality infrastructure due to theĀ number of international events held in India as aĀ cause for theĀ rise of youngsters.

ā€œWith the Commonwealth Games in 2010, we have a good range here and the Youth Commonwealth Games were hosted in Pune, where we have a very good range in Balewadi and in Jaipur for the Asian Airgun Championships. Hosting these competitions helps create good infrastructure for youngsters to access,ā€ she concluded.

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