New Delhi(Agencies):Pistol
shooter Abhishek Verma has a confession to make. He is missing Gurugram. The
30-year-old has been staying with his parents in Chandigarh ever since the
lockdown was enforced. Before Covid-19 threw a spanner in Verma’s Olympics
dreams, he and his friend Sanju Yadav had developed a shooting range in a
shopping mall in Gurugram. It had lighting and all paraphernalia, and the two
were proud of the facility.
But now Verma has to make do
with a makeshift range in his own bedroom, to satisfy his training pangs. He's
fixed the electronic target — provided by his sponsors — in one room and shoots
diagonally from the edge of the next room.
“I got the electronic target bolted on my
bedroom almirah. We have enough space in the house and I can get one
constructed. But it will take time so this was the best possible solution,”
Verma told The Tribune.
Verma, winner of two ISSF
World Cup gold medals last year, added that he is happy he's getting to train.
“I am feeling much better now. I am getting to shoot again. There is a mini-gym
too in the house,” the current world No. 2 said.
Generally shooting early in
the day, Verma shifts his attention to gym work in the evening, which is mostly
strengthening exercises.
“I shoot for five days and then take a day
off. The volume is sporadic. There are days when I shoot 150 rounds and on
other days it is significantly lower,” Verma said.
‘Rana is my coach’
Verma clarified that he is no
longer training with his longtime coach Ominder Singh, instead working with
Jaspal Rana. “Jaspal sir has been mentoring me since the Asian Games. And I
have been consulting him from time to time since then. But I have been training
under him fulltime this year,” Verma said.
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