Meera Kumari at the 24th Bihar State Shooting Championship at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Danapur. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, May 29: When Mahendra Singh Dhoni was lifting the 2011 ICC World Cup, shooting ace Meera Kumari was cursing her fate for choosing a wrong profession.

The star shooter missed the recently concluded Shooting World Cup held in the US only because she did not have enough money to buy a rifle.

The worst is that unlike cricket, for shooters, neither any sponsor is interested in supporting a budding shooter nor is the government keen on helping the player.

The Telegraph found Meera, at the 24th Bihar State Rifle Shooting Championship, which is underway at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Danapur.

She is also the member of Bihar Rifle Association and is representing the body at present. Having won laurels in several national championships, Meera is still struggling to get a compatible rifle that comes at an exorbitant price and is beyond her affordability. However, thanks to the state government Meera recently got a job with the Patna secretariat on the basis of her talent.

Meera hails from Purnea and has five sisters and a brother. Her father, Vijay Choudhry, runs a book-binding shop and it is very difficult for him to run the family.

When The Telegraph asked Meera about missing the May World Cup held in the US, she said: “I don’t have my own rifle so whenever I take part in any championship, I borrow one from my friend. A similar situation occurred ahead of the World Cup and I had asked a rifle from a friend but I could not get it on time. Thus, I had to miss the World Cup. I still cannot forget the day, it haunts me quite often but what is the use of repenting. It’s a miss.”

She added: “Sometimes, I wonder how long I would be able to sustain myself on borrowed rifles. But I am hopeful that one day somebody would acknowledge my talent and would help keep my shooting alive.”

Meera added: “There are more 3,000 rifle shooters in Bihar but most of them do not qualify or get a chance to play at the international level because they don’t have a quality rifle. A rifle costs around Rs 2.5 lakh. It’s not at all possible for me to buy such a rifle because my father is struggling to run our family. I don’t even expect him to do so.”

The Purnea girl had participated in 2010 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Shooting Championships held in Munich, Germany.

“Though she could not win any medal, the participation itself in the world championship is a great achievement for her,” said Gopal Prasad Singh, a Bihar State Rifle Association officer.

She also took part in the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, held in Pune but every time she had borrowed a rifle from her friend and even for the current championship, she has borrowed one too.

Meera is into shooting for the past six years. “The fondness for the game came up when I was a student of National Cadet Corps (NCC) and there itself I learnt the art of shooting and decided to take it up as a career. During that period, I had participated in several competitions on district, state and national-level and won medals too. If we get support from the state government in terms of amenities then we can bring many gold medals to the state.”

This month itself, chief minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated Nalanda Indoor Shooting range at his village in Kalyanbigha to promote the sport and give chance to talented shooters.

“Shooting is a cent per cent job-oriented sport. If the trainees turn out to be first-grade shooters, they will have an edge in getting a job with the police or defence forces. Second-grade shooters, on the other hand, are quickly picked up by corporate honchos, business bigwigs or important persons for private security,” said L.P. Singh, the games in-charge of Danapur Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.