Tricity Shotgun Shooters’ Collective Need More Manifestation

Chandigarh is a city where people indulge in a variety of sports and games ranging from modern to traditional games. The shotgun sports are some of the most exhilarating and exciting of all the shooting sports. Passionate and professional members of the Tricity Shotgun Shooters’ Collective including Ganemat Sekhon (First Indian woman to win ISSF World Cup Medal) and Angad Veer Singh Bajwa (Gold Medalist, 62^nd National Shotgun Championship), along with other renowned medalist Amrinder Singh Cheema, Gurjoat Singh Khangura, Namanveer Brar, Prabhsukman Brar, Indereshwar Singh Sekhon, Bhavtegh Gill, Sohrab Gill and Tavrez Singh Sandhu got together to request the authorities for building infrastructure to suffice shotgun sport training and tournaments within the tricity. Many of the talent from the tricity have won several medals in national and international championships. Currently, all the shooters have been practicing at the Patiala’s shooting range privately owned by Mr. Raninder Singh, President, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) & Vice-President, International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). 

Tricity's Shotgun Shooters - Left to Right: Mr. Indereshwar Singh Sekhon, Mr. Amrinder Singh Cheema, Mr. Gurjoat Singh Khangura, Mr. Ganemat Sekhon, Mr. Bhavtegh Gill, Mr. Sohrab Gill, and Mr. Namanveer Brar

The need of the hour is to have a professional shotgun shooting range within Chandigarh to provide practice range for shotgun sports and other shooting sports categories. It will also help in boosting business activities in and around Tricity. A shooting competition lasts a fortnight and will attract shooters and visitors from all over the world, which will help the city in terms of tourism, hospitality business, and general business.

Listed below are few achievements of the members of Tricity Shotgun Shooters’ Collective who have been representing Punjab on National and International platforms:

Mr. Amrinder Singh Cheema, International Shotgun shooter - He has been competing on a National and International level and has not missed being in the top 6 for the past 7 years. Mr. Cheema recently won gold in the 62nd National Shotgun championship held at the JDA range. He is an accredited ISSF athlete and a recognised coach to many talented and aspiring shotgun competitors in Punjab.

Mr. Gurjoat Singh Khangura - A law graduate and an accomplished skeet shooter with National and International recognition. He represented India in Abu Dhabi and won Team Bronze in Asian Shotgun Championship in the year 2016. In the recent National Championship held at Jaipur, Gurjoat shot the highest in national qualification.

Angad Veer Singh Bajwa - Newly crowned Asian Champion in Skeet. He won a Gold medal recently after competing in the 62nd National Shooting competition. Angad has represented and won numerous medals at various International and National competitions. He has been trained by some best coaches in the world. He has also won silver medal in men’s skeet for two consecutive years in National Championships.

Mr. Bhavtegh Gill - One of the youngest shotgun shooter who has won several medals and achieved recognition both Nationally and Internationally. He won a Gold medal recently after competing in the 62nd National Shooting competition. He was in the National Squad Junior Shotgun in 2017. Bhavtegh is also the youngest to be selected in ‘Khelo India’ program and is coached by Mr. Amrinder Singh Cheema.

Mr. Indereshwar Singh Sekhon - He is a qualified Skeet shooter who represented Punjab in the 62nd National Shotgun championship held in 2018 in Jaipur. He has been passionate about shooting and has competed in countries like Germany, Finland and various other junior international competetions. Won Bronze medal in team at World University Championship (At Malaysia) along with two individual Gold medals in pre-nationals. He has been in the top 6 for the past 5 years and in the international squad.

Mr. Sohrab Gill - A highly skilled skeet shooter and Asian Championship medalist with a team and individual international recognition in the year 2007. He is the first Indian to win an international medal in Skeet shooting. Mr. Gill has won multiple medals in National and International tournaments and represented India.

Ms. Ganemat Sekhon - A young and passionate shooter from Punjab who recently competed in the Asian championship and participated in the 60th and 61st National Games which were held in Jaipur and Delhi respectively. She has won a Gold team medal in both Junior and Senior women. Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi himself tweeted hailing Ganemat for her remarkable achievement.

Ms. Prabhsukman Brar - A trained Trap and Double trap shooter who recently won Individual gold in Double Trap in the 62nd National Shooting Championship held in Jaipur and a Team Gold in 62nd National Shooting Championship. Other than this, in 2018 itself she won Individual Gold, Individual Silver in 28th North Zone Shooting Championship in Double Trap and won team gold in the double trap event too.

Mr. Namanveer Brar -  A talented and skilled Trap and Double trap shooter who won Individual silver in Punjab State Shooting competition and Individual silver in 28th North Zone Shooting Championship in Trap. He has also represented India in International Junior competition in Germany and several other tournaments. He was the first ever shooter to win a medal at World University Games. He also won a Bronze Medal in Trap World Championship. He has pursued BA in Eco Honours as well as LLB.

Tavrez Singh Sandhu -  A young achiever who recently participated in the Punjab state shooting competition scheduled in October 2018 for  Double Trap event. He also won a Bronze medal and qualified to play in the 62nd National Shooting Championship held in 2018 itself. It is a remarkable achievement on part of Tavrez Singh Sandhu as a beginner as in a span of just a month he has achieved quite a lot.

Having a facility for an all-in-one shooting range including an outdoor range for Shotgun sports within Chandigarh will help shooters in performing better and bringing more laurels.

On concluding the event Mr. Amrinder Singh Cheema said, “We all are really thankful to Mr. Raninder Singh who has made his private shooting range available for all the aspiring Tricity shooters. He is the first Indian who has been elected as the vice president of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). We would like to congratulate him on his achievement of being recognized internationally and this surely motivates us to work hard in bringing more medals for our country.”