Shooting is an ancient traditional sport in India that has its origin in the medieval period. During that period, the Indians used to do shooting in the form of Archery. During the 16th century, the firearms entered in shooting. Besides hunting, the Shooting in India was also used for military training. In its initial period, Shooting was considered as a royal game in India. Though shooting competitions used to be organized in the 11th century, it developed as an organized sport in India, only in the 19th century.
Shooting in India has been popular for quite a long time. The maharajas of India were very fond of shooting and used to go out frequently on their horseback. Shooting is the game of those who are blessed with the art of using different types of guns with speed and accuracy. Shooting in India got recognized as a sport with the establishment of National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) in 1951. The Indian shooters got international exposure only after they won the first individual silver medal in the Olympic Games. The famous Indian Shooter, Abhinav Bindra has recently brought a lot of glory to India by winning the first ever individual Olympic Gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Some of the other legendary shooters of India include Gagan Narang, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Anjali Bhagat, Dr Karni Singh, Randhir Singh, Samresh Jung, Jaspal Rana, etc.
Apart from the Olympic Games, the Indian Shooters have also got significant success in the other tournaments like Commonwealth Games, SAF Games, Asian Games etc. In the 1990 Commonwealth Games held in Auckland, New Zealand, Ashok Pandit won the first gold medal for India in the free pistol event. In 1998 Commonwealth games at Kuala Lumpur, India gave its best ever performance in shooting by winning seven medals, which was the all time highest by India. These include two gold medals by Jaspal Rana in centre fire pistol pairs with Ashok Pandit, one silver medal in air pistol pairs by Satendra Kumar and a gold medal by Manavjit Singh and Mansher Singh in trap pairs event. The others were gold by Roopa Unnikrishnan in the sports rifle prone position and Bhanwar Dhaka added one more bronze in free pistol.
With the increasing interest in shooting in India, the budding shooters are now taking training under experienced coaches. Shooting is a game where the accuracy and control of a player over his pistol and rifles are tested. The shooter needs to aim different shots on a fixed target. The targets are kept at a distance of 10, 25 and 50 meters in men`s, women`s and mixed competitions. Established in 1951, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) is the central administrative body for the promotion of shooting sport in India. It is organising various shooting competitions in India under four disciplines: Rifle, pistol, shotgun and running target. The only difference between different rifle events is the distance and position of shooting.
Shooting in India has received lots of awards like Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards, Dronacharya awards, and Arjuna Award that was first inducted in 1961 by the Government of India. The ace shooter Karni Singh was the first winner of Arjuna Award in Shooting, in 1961. Some of the other Arjuna Awardees in Shooting include Krishna Das, Limba Ram, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Deepali Deshpande, Vijay Kumar, Soma Dutta, Prof Sunny Thomas, Deepali A Deshpande, Vijay Kumar etc.
