SHILLONG: In an overwhelming response, 36 junior shooters and 107 senior budding shooters in the state participated in the 10-metre Meghalaya Shooting Talent Search, held in the city on Saturday.
The initiative was taken by the Shooting Association of Meghalaya (SAM) to promote the sport of shooting in Meghalaya that has just made a beginning after the formation of SAM.
The same event was held a day before in Pynursla where as many as 115 shooters from 28 villages under Pynursla attended.
“The response was unexpected and the shooters displayed great potentiality. We hope to re-filter the talented shooters of the state, giving them an opportunity to represent the state in different levels,” president of SAM, John F Kharshiing, said.
Interestingly, an eight-year-old boy, Wansame Kharumnuid, of Shillong emerged to be the youngest shooter in the two-day event.
“I was so down when they (the organisers) said that the event would be only for those above the age of nine till 18 in the junior category but seeing my eagerness and interest in this sport, I was granted an opportunity to give it a shot,” he said.
The event was also participated by the ADM of East Garo Hills PM Sangma who drove from Garo Hills to take part in the event.
During the talent search, a demonstration on the art of shooting was given by National Silver medallist Melanie Pariat, Gayatri Nair and John Thounamjam, who have brought laurels to Assam and Meghalaya in the field of shooting.
Pariat, who won the silver medal at the national arena last year had to dedicate her success to Assam because she did not represent Meghalaya due to the non-availability of training centres in the state, which compelled her to enter into the Assam-based training institute.
In this connection, SAM, which was only established last year, aimed at selecting a pool of talented youth in this field and to train and expose them to the regional as well as the national arena.
SAM foresaw a huge response, following the availability of an array of good shooters in the state.
Kharshiing informed that the response to shooting in Meghalaya has been terrific and even people came out in large numbers in Pynursla for the talent hunt.
Later, certificates were given to those who participated in the talent hunt.
Such was the level of participation, Kharshiing said that there were not enough certificates to go around.