Dr. Karni Singh, media and the shooting range

''For my good friend Mr. Sriman, with a million thanks for what you and the Times of India did for clay pigeon''. --- Karni Singh, Asiad 1982.

Dr. Karni Singh of Bikaner, and the great R. Sriman, the Sports Editor of Times of India, have left behind a rich legacy.

The World Championship silver medallist in trap in Cairo in 1962, Karni Singh wrote that nice note in his book, ''From Rome to Moscow, the memoirs of an Olympic trap shooter'', while presenting it to Sriman.

For some of us who feel proud to have done our bit for the sport, it is a humbling presentation.

In his preface, Karni Singh thanks a whole lot of people in the media, at a time when the Indian media had not exploded into this big a form as we find it today.

''I would also like to take this opportunity to convey my appreciation to all those very fine men of the sports pages of Indian newspapers, as also the All India Radio and T.V., who helped to build up the Clay Pigeon sport in our country, and but for whose help Clay Pigeon shooting would have remained unknown. I would like to mention names of kind friends who as sports editors of our major newspapers and magazines, helped to encourage this sport. Noteworthy amongst them are Mr. R. Sriman, Mr. Prabhu, the late Mr. Jadav, Mr. Bikram Singh, Mr. Daniels, Mr. Ron Hendricks, Mr. Wadhwani, Mr. Vernon Ram and Mr. Vijay Kaura amongst many others who showed special interest in this sport. The author expresses his appreciation to Mr. Melville de Mello, Mr. Surjit Sen, Mr. Jasdev Singh, Mr. Laxman Tandan and Mr. Sanyal of All India Radio who were also responsible to catapult this sport to its present position by educating the people through Radio and TV in our country''.

Continuing further with his appreciation of the Indian media, Karni Singh praises the sports magazines for their contribution.

''India's sports magazines deserve special thanks for the wide coverage given to Clay Pigeon shooting and the prominent amongst them are Sports and Pastime, Sports Week, Sports World and the famous Illustrated Weekly of India, and Dharmayug (Hindi). The author wishes to express his appreciation to the editors of these famous magazines, prominent amongst whom are Mr. Khalid Ansari, Mr. Sharad Kotnis, the Nawab of Pataudi and Mr. Raju Bharatan for the encouragement given by them to this sport''.

It is indeed a privilege to have the book presented to Sriman, thanks mainly to his daughter Radhica and my colleague in The Hindu, Vijay Lokapally. Of course, it was a morale-booster to be told by Sriman, way back in 1990, during a football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium that one had a brilliant career ahead! It was an education listening to Sriman, even though everyone feared his acerbic tongue. He could praise and curse with equal felicity.

While he was sparse with his praise, few could tolerate the sting of his tongue.

Even Sriman would have sympathised at the plight of the sports journalists today, and sought the ears of the administrator for special treatment. Never mind the fact that Sriman had maintained that the profession had gone to the dogs because dogs had come into the profession !

For, it has become a gigantic task just to gain entry into the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in Tughlakabad, if you are a person from the media.

My friend Vinayak Padmadeo of the Hindustan Times had to wait nearly for 40 minutes outside the gates on Wednesday, the first day of Olympic trials, before he was allowed inside. I had to wait a few minutes. But four security guards came to us at the 10-metre range while we were watching the Olympic trials, featuring the cream of Indian talent.

They were apologetic and said that we had no permission to be in the premises.

Frantic calls to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) did not lead to a solution as the Administrator of the shooting range was not willing to take phone calls. Eventually, we had to leave the shooting and reach the administrator who offered tea and said that he was not informed about the individual media persons.

Digvijay Singh Deo, the Sports Editor of CNN-IBN had taken permission to conduct interviews at the range. It was understandable. The print journalists merely made entries on the register at the gate, which has been a common practice for everyone.

In fact, an earlier administrator had been officially hauled up by the Director General of SAI for not letting media do its work. Yet, things don't change. You are forced to stare at the gate every time and the helpless security personnel.

Vinayak had left his home in Ghaziabad at 7.30 a.m. for the trials scheduled to start at 9.30, because he had to keep a margin for heavy peak hour traffic while driving through for about 45 kilometres to the range in Tughlakabad. His head start, by about 30 minutes to mine, we being neighbours with him being farther from the range, proved of little value as Vinayak was stopped at the gate for long. Eventually, both of us could watch little as Abhinav Bindra and company kept puncturing the black paper on the electronic targets.

Perhaps, there is a lot to hide at the shooting range, revamped at phenomenal cost for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The electronic targets present a poor picture. Only 14 function, out of 80 lanes at the 50-metre range. Only 10 are operational at the 25-metre range, which is only one fourth of the capacity.

The 10-metre range is being repaired for the forthcoming Asian Air Gun Championship for a few crore of rupees. The national campers are not even allowed to shoot after 1.30 p.m. even at the 25m and 50m ranges despite them being occupied for Olympic trials, and not being part of the forthcoming Asian event.

With the government taking care of sports by pumping the tax payers money, the national federations and the SAI view media as an unnecessary evil, except when they require publicity.

It is a pain to endure traffic for two hours and then be denied entry, when only a handful follow the sport and try to be honest with their work.

It is a mere reflection of the times that we live. It may strike a discordant note at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, mainly because the great man held the media in such high esteem, as he understood its key role.

Maybe, the authorities would try to solve the problem efficiently, by changing the name of the shooting range!