Interview with ace shooter Vijay Kumar: "IPL-style league should be introduced in every sport in India"

How important is fitness for shooters?

Well, if you ask me about fitness of shooters in general, I would say many are not very fit physically. However, I am a fitness freak. Also, I am an Army person so I love to be fit. I can’t go a day without hitting the gym. Even if I am touring, I would take out time for my workouts even if it means doing a round of push ups in my room. Fitness is important not only for the body but also the mind. Shooting requires a lot of mental toughness along with physical strength. My Russian coach, Mr. Pavel, always pushed me towards fitness and told me how important it is.

Have you resumed training?

Yes, I have joined the camp which is being held in Delhi for the upcoming tournament in Spain. It’s an intense training camp and I am looking forward to the upcoming tournaments. My main targets are Commonwealth Games and Asian Games which are to be held next year. Therefore, I am training very hard nowadays.

Do you think shooting has finally gained the popularity it deserves?

Not really. There is still a long way to go for it. We have four individual International medals from the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Olympics. We can still achieve a lot more. I think shooting can gain more popularity if certain things are done right, like advertisement and PR of the game, more media coverage and live broadcasts of the matches. The only time shooters come into public light are during Commonwealth and Asian Games, or during Olympics. That too only for a span of ten days. We can’t expect people to remember the players throughout. Also, something like an IPL-style league can be introduced in Shooting. In fact, it should be introduced for all the other sports.

What would you like to say about the recent fixing and betting scandal which hit the IPL?

I am not fully aware of the whole incident since I was in US for a tournament, but it was sad to hear about it. Every Indian sportsperson is the face of his country and represents the country, and indulging in wrongful activities projects a bad image of the nation. Every sportsman should focus more on their game and not be greedy.