Amit Sheoran, coach

Photos by Piyal Bhattacharjee

It started in a tin shed. Sometimes the shooters would wait for the angry winds to subside and the swirling dust to settle down before they took aim. Occasionally, the monkeys hanging about on a tree nearby would steal their tiffins. That’s where Saurabh Chaudhary, who won the Asian Games gold medal in air pistol (10m), learnt to shoot in the winter of 2015.Former shooter Amit Sheoran, 40, who runs the Veer Shahmal Rifle Club in Binauli, a kasbah dotted with temples in Baghpat district, recalls: "There were no fans. The other kids would stop practice in smoldering summer afternoons. Not Saurabh. Only 13 then, he would be drenched in sweat but keep shooting. He would always remain focused and calm, like a monk."In 2016, the shooting range shifted about half a kilometre away where a student’s father had gifted Sheoran a small plot of land. The new and upgraded 15X12sqm rifle club has the 'luxury' of two fans.It isn’t much but for 26 young boys, the club is both a theatre of dreams and a pathway to progress. Most are sons of marginal farmers, a few are from affluent kisan families, and one is a mason’s son. They are Jats, Muslims and OBCs.Most are teenagers; some even younger than 16-year-old Saurabh. They come from villages nearby – Kalina (Saurabh’s home), Adampur, Bali, Razapur, Kshirsagar, Hisawada and others – practising about 12-14 hours every day. A few, like air rifle shooter Mohammed Waseem of Muzaffarnagar, or Vishal Pannu, who is from Amroha, live in rented rooms. "For me, shooting is everything," Waseem says on the phone, enjoying a day off for Bakr Id at home. "Our aim is Olympic," says a printout pasted in the range. Everyone echoes that view.The Baghpat club, named after a revolutionary who fought against the British in 1857 in west UP, was started in 2011 by Sheoran, an Armyman’s son, who gave up shooting because of economic hardships. But he realised it was possible to fulfil his dreams in another way. "I wanted to help young shooters, give them the opportunities I never got." A marginal farmer, Sheoran spent Rs 2 lakh to get things started; for the new eight-lane range he has invested another Rs 4.5 lakh. "We had only two weapons to begin with: an air rifle and an air pistol," recalls Sheoran"There are at least 30 shooting ranges in western UP’s Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Shamli and Meerut," estimates Sheoran. Meerut is also home to 15-year-old sensation Shardul Vihan, who won silver in double trap at the Jakarta-Palembang Games on Thursday.Besides bagging medals, some of Sheoran’s older wards – the talented Prashant Malik, Rahul Vedvan, Amit Rathi, Mohammed Muqeem and others -- have landed jobs in the Army via the sports quota. There’s also Deepender Singh, who shot a world record 238.3 in men’s 10m air pistol SH1 category in Para Shooting World Cup in Bangkok last year. The electrical engineer has emerged as one of the top shooters of the range.Monu Kumar Prajapat is another tale of grit and glory. His father collects milk from dairy farmers and delivers it in Delhi. Like Saurabh’s parents, his father took a loan to buy a Morini air pistol that costs over Rs 1 lakh."I used to accompany my sister Anshu to a shooting range in Jori village and got hooked to the sport," he says. There was only one pistol between the two and Anshu gave it to her brother. She still shoots, though, with a borrowed gun at another range in Sarai village. Monu will travel to Kuwait as part of the national youth team later this year but he is aiming higher: an Olympic gold."Many girls want to shoot. But with so many students, there’s no space even to stand. Sadly, I have to turn them away," says Sheoran.Air pistol shooting is an expensive sport. "Any state-level shooter would be spending roughly Rs 15,000-20,000 per month on the sport," says Deepender. Sheoran, who co-owns nine bighas of land with his brother, charges just Rs 500 a month per student. The shooters bring their own gun and pellets. Some, like the mason’s son,13-year-old Shubham Sharma, are trained for free.Like any sport, there is a science to shooting. Grip, aim, trigger, follow-through – that’s the movement a shooter makes. But to hit a target from a standing position with unerring frequency requires a synchronicity of body and hand and being in "the zone". And that arrives only after months of practice and practice. "I tell the boys that the small space where you stand inside a range is a sacred space. Do your sadhana (meditation) there," Sheoran says.Committed and focused, they train all day, even at night until load-shedding. "At least we have 16 hours of electricity now during the Yogi government. In the earlier regime, it was around 12 hours," laughs Sheoran. For his wards, the coach has a mantra on how to train in darkness before they hit the bed."Close the door in your room. Shut out the light. Stand and extend your hand. Imagine holding a gun. Focus on your body with your mind. Check if your body has locked down. Feel the calm. Become still water."