Shooting begins in earnest

21 February 2009

If you walk inside Changlingmithang Stadium and hear shooting sounds, do not mistrust your ears. They are. Changlingmithang is home to a new shooting range of Bhutan Shooting Federation.

The new shooting range is on the ground floor. The regular training at the range started on February 16, which instantly became a welcome sight to shooters. The range is for 10 m air rifle shooting. The previous shooting range was in Changzamtog Industrial Estate.

According to the Assistant Coach, Kinzang Seldon, they practice shooting daily. Their summer timing is between 9 am and 5 pm and the winter timing, 9 am and 4 pm.

There are eight permanent shooters comprising six women and two men shooters, including the male and female coaches. Some are rifle shooters while others are pistol shooters.

According to the Assistant Shooting Coach, Dorji Phurba, the permanent shooters are given a monthly stipend depending on their grades. They are put on grades one to five based on their shooting scores. The monthly stipend ranges from Nu 4,500 for grade one shooters to Nu 12,000 for grade five shooters.

The shooters in grade four and five will be retained in the federation for a longer duration. They also have to be present for training and should have a minimum attendance of 80 percent. Sangay Wangmo, 24, is one of the female shooters.

She has been in the federation since 2004. She has been to Germany for a shooting coaching along with other Bhutanese shooters. “In the beginning, it was difficult but now, after the initial mistakes, we can shoot better,” she said.

The shooters have to wear shooting costumes while shooting. The coach, Dorji Phurba, said that it helped by improving support and balance.

“We have plans to include school students in the federation by the end of this year,” he said. He added that they were planning to recruit 14 shooters through a talent hunt and that interested students could contact the shooting federation.

BY PHUNTSHO WANGMO

Ratings: 1 Star