Noida resident and director of Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) Deepak Singh emerged victorious in the first Corporate Shooting Challenge held in Delhi on 22 April

This first of its kind competition aims to associate the corporate world with shooting for the promotion of the sport and its players.

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The two-day shooting challenge was organised at the Dr Karni Singh shooting ranges in Delhi on 21-22 April. The event was conceptualised and delivered by Yogindra Pal Singh ‘Yogi’ from ‘Shoot to Win’ and  Neeti Rawat from ‘NR Productions ‘. Many corporate giants participated in the competition in which Deepak Singh emerged the hands-down winner. He hails from Janaura village of Bulandshahar and is posted as a director of KPMG in Noida.

Appreciating the organisers for bringing the corporates together, Deepak said such initiatives would turn out to be a boon for the sport of shooting in India and lend it a new dimension. By becoming popular among different  corporate members, shooting would get additional resources and support, said an overwhelmed Deepak.

“In all there were 15 participants, including two women, from corporate houses viz KPMG, Ernst & Young, Barclays, IndusInd Bank, HCL Technologies, Explosive Events, Sports Illustrated , Rodiac Consultancies, etc.,” said Neeti Rawat, adding that the response was overwhelming.

The participants from these corporate houses were enthusiastic and some were even accompanied by their families, said co-producer Yogi. On the first day the participants were given basic training, taught safety rules and handling of the gun. The actual competition started on the next day .

From the start, Deepak took the lead. He finished with 50 points leaving behind Raj Kumar of Rodiac Consultancies at second place with 47 points. However  a tussle was witnessed for the third place which had a  tie between Nitin Bharadwaj of Explosive Events and Abhinav Sharma from Barclays on 46 points. In a 5-shot shoot off, Nitin defeated Sharma by a score of 3-1.”It was a shotgun shooting with a trap event coupled with hitting stationary targets as the corporates were all novices in the shooting,” said Yogi, who is also  an international shooter .

The winners were given medals and prizes by V K Mahendru, Group General Manager, ONGC. Vouchers of Rs 75,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 were given to the gold, silver and bronze medalists.

“In some parts of the world such as US, Australia and UK there are team building events organised in shooting but not a competition of corporates,” said Yogi, adding that Indian shooters are doing exceedingly well in recent years which is exhibited in their performance in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, as well. Now what they require is opportunities and support which could be provided to them by corporates.

Enthused by the success of this event, Yogi is now planning to start a shooting league of corporates with 16 teams. Big names like Mercedes (Pune) and Barclays have approached them for an in-house competition as a team building event, he said, adding that the sport is thrilling and a stress buster as well. Yogi said his sole objective, however, is to make shooting popular in the country.