Manu Bhaker to Shift Base to Delhi, to Train for 25m Pistol at Karni Singh Shooting Range

Ace shooter Manu Bhaker will shift base to Delhi from her village home in Goria, Haryana to train for the 25m pistol event at Karni Singh Shooting Range.

"Yes, for 25m sports pistol, I have to come to Delhi, Tughlakabad Shooting Range (Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range) as not a single range for this is available in Haryana," Bhaker told IANS on Monday.

Bhaker has a 10m air pistol shooting range at her home and it was also upgraded to an electronic target system recently but since the Covid-19 lockdown in March, the Tokyo Olympics hopeful has not trained in her other pet event, the 25m pistol.

"Since lockdown, I have not shot a single shoot of .22 lr. Mostly every state has their own shooting range, I hope our state will have our own range in near future. Maybe in 10 years," added Bhaker, a six-time World Cup gold medallist.

The National Rifles Association of India's (NRAI) has already said that its plans of proposing dates for a national camp to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range after reviewing the situation on July 15 remains on.

SAI had announced earlier that the range will be open for athletes in the mix for the Tokyo Olympics.

Bhaker had secured one of India's two women's 10m air pistol Olympic quotas.

"I plan to wind up (training for) 25m as soon as possible in the next few weeks and focus on getting the same standards as I had earlier. The same as last year without compromising on health," said the 18-year old.

A 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal winner, she has been active during the lockdown with her social media posts oozing positivity.

"During the lockdown period, I tried to try different things (horse riding, bikes, painting, making wooden jackets and making masks) which generally were not possible in a busy schedule besides 10 m air pistol (training)," she added.