(Top) Paramita Kundu and Joydeep Karmakar take aim at North Calcutta Rifle Club; (below) Mampi Das trains for the upcoming Asian Airgun Championship. Pictures by Sanat Kumar Sinha

Paramita Kundu spends six days a week designing jewellery for a retail chain. But on Sunday, she refuses to budge from her shooting range at North Calcutta Rifle Club. The 38-year-old has won five gold medals at the 42nd West Bengal State Shooting Championship 2009 and the first Eastern India Championship 2009.

“Jewellery designing is my source of livelihood, but shooting is my passion. I have been practising at North Calcutta Rifle Club for 13 years. I get to compete with national-level players here,” smiles Paramita, lugging a 4.8kg air rifle.

Dwaipayan Padha travels all the way from Ballygunge to Belgachhia for training. “The South Calcutta Rifle Club is not as good as this one. Here, I get tips from international-level shooters,” said the Class XII student who has won four golds and a silver at the West Bengal State Shooting Championship.

The rifle club at 64 Belgachhia Road has nurtured shooters since 1948; its current headcount is 60. The club offers facilities for 10m, 25m and 50m shooting ranges, but these fall far short of the desired infrastructure to groom international-level sportsmen.

“According to international rules, the 10m shooting range should be indoors and air-conditioned, but we are still having to do with an open range. We are unable to develop the 25m shooting range despite having a separate space for it because of lack of funds,” said club secretary Debranjan Mukherjee.

The lack of upgraded training is taking a toll on the players. “We shoot in natural light and air, and so when there is a breeze, the pellets get diverted and we often miss the mark,” said Runa Sengupta, who has won three golds at the 42nd Bengal Championship.

Though the club boasts several recent achievements — Joydeep Karmakar won gold at the 2007 National Shooting Championship Competition, while Kuheli Ganguly fetched the bronze at the same meet in 2008 — sponsorship has been few and far between. “We have to bear our own expenses when we play outside the state, from the participating fees to travel fare and accommodation. We don’t have any sponsors,” said Paramita.

“Other states have upgraded their infrastructure, especially Maharashtra, but there has been absolutely no development in Bengal. Several shooters have left the sport as they are unable to afford the expensive equipment,” said shooter Joydeep.

At the same time, Abhinav Bindra’s Olympics achievement has attracted many new faces to the game. “We have had about a 15 per cent rise in the number of trainees after Bindra’s win, especially in the novice category,” said the club’s chief coach P.K. Acharya, who is also a judge at the International Shooting Sport Federation headquartered in Germany.

A team from the West Bengal Rifle Association met sports minister Kanti Ganguly to discuss the matter of infrastructure.

“It is true that the facilities in Bengal are poor and the sports minister has assured us help,” said V.K. Dhall, the president of the West Bengal Rifle Association.

The North Calcutta Rifle Club, meanwhile, is banking on Mampi Das for another laurel. Mampi will take part in the Asian Airgun Championship to be held in Doha in December.