Target Practice

One is an Olympic silver medallist. Another was adjudged the best athlete at the Commonwealth Games. The third is one of the brightest prospects in the world and at the age of 24 has the experience of two Olympics under his belt. Sounds great, doesn't it?

If pedigree counts for everything, then the Indian shooting contingent for Beijing is guaranteed to come back with a decent haul of medals.

Yet, the shooters are playing a cautious game. Samaresh Jung, who lit up Melbourne with some jaw-dropping performances, played down hopes of a medal last week by saying that "preparations don't count for much, as what matters most is how you perform on that particular day."

And no one knows this better than Rajyavardhan Rathore. Rathore came out of nowhere and did the country proud by winning the silver medal at Athens four years ago. Rathore, in an earlier interview with Business Standard, had admitted that "Pressure would be there, but we have a good team and are confident of putting up a good show."

Manavjit Sandhu is the reigning Asian and world champion in trap shooting and is counted among experts as the favourite to do well at Beijing. Sandhu has been practicing hard and, in spite a few indifferent performances, remains confident of doing well in Beijing this year.

Abhinav Bindra, at 24, has been preparing long and hard for Beijing. He has done well in recent events and will be looking to finally live up to his reputation. Bindra has been impressing a lot over the years and has been hailed as the next best thing in Indian sport. He needs to give a solid performance to leave the disappointment of Athens behind.

Like most sports, shooting requires tremendous mental toughness. One may have prepared long and hard, done all that was required