If there is one sporting discipline where our sportsmen have given us much to cheer, it’s shooting. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s silver medal in 2004, Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal in 2008 and now, Gagan Narang bagging bronze earlier this week; this apart our shooters returned with several medals at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships.

Ujwala Dhar, Vice-President of Maharashtra State Rifle Association (MRA), a former shooter herself, tries to explain this surge, “I would shoot from 1973-1986, and had to save my pocket money to buy the pellets because of a lack of parental support. I even joined the National Cadet Corps (NCC) as they would take care of ammunition supply and travel. But today, after our shooters have won at the Olympics, parents are encouraging their children to take up the sport. In fact, parents seem more eager than the children.