Indian Shotgun Open to help country's shooters compete with world's best, says Ronjan Sodhi

When sportspersons want to give back to sport, many of them turn coaches, some open academies. And now in a unique initiative, India's senior shotgun shooters, Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu, have made the effort to start a new competition, that will also serve the purpose of talent scouting.

Former World No. 1 and Asian Games gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi was seen with a walkie talkie, and not his Perazzi gun at Delhi's Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, on Wednesday. That's because for his latest role, Sodhi needs the gadget. Long time India teammates, and now tournament co-organisers, Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu, are the brains behind the first Indian Shotgun Open. It is a first-of-its-kind shooting league, that lets inexperienced shooters compete with the experienced ones.

"The idea actually dawned upon us when we were in Italy, shooting during a weekend. And we realized, if there can be such competitions in Italy, why can't we have something similar in India too? We have only one competition in India every year, the nationals. Why can't we have more?", Sodhi told NDTV. "When we say 'open', we mean exactly that. Anyone who has shot at state, and even district level, can participate here", said Sodhi

The tournament, that has a prize money of Rs 35 lakh, is open to men and women, and has competitions in all three categories of shotgun shooting - skeet, trap and double trap. There aren't any fixed number of teams, or team members, like the more established leagues in cricket and football. The idea is to keep it casual, and fun, and let as many shooters compete as possible. Close to 300 shooters have signed up for the inaugural edition.

With a busy season ahead, starting with next month's World Cup in the US, followed by the Commonwealth and Asian Games, it's heartening to see the cream of Indian shooting take such interest in helping the sport grow and identify talent as well. "Last couple of weeks we've come here almost every day and night, to see things get done here. We decided not to give it to any event company and be hands on instead, because we know the sport best", said Manavjit Sandhu, who is competing in all three events at the competition.

With India's success in shooting at the Olympics, getting sponsors for this event wasn't too difficult. The next target is to have it televised in its second year. And given the fact that shotgun is easily the most attractive and spectator friendly of all forms of shooting, organisers are hoping that hurdle will be crossed easily as well.