Govt school in Ropar becomes hub for national-level shooters
ROPAR: A father's quest to support his son's dream transformed a modest govt school in Ropar into a breeding ground for national-level rifle shooting talent.
Narinder Singh Banga, a Punjabi teacher at Government Senior Secondary School, Jhallian Kalan village in Ropar district, took the first step to set up a small shooting range at his own expense in 2011-12.
Motivated by his son Arshdeep Banga's passion for shooting, Banga shifted to Ropar from Bhauwal village (Nurpur Bedi) and initially set up a makeshift range at Shivalik Club, later moving it to Shivalik Public School, where Arshdeep studied.
Within two years, the initiative found a more permanent home at the govt school in Jhallian Kalan, where Banga was posted. Arshdeep was soon enrolled there, and under his father's guidance, began winning medals at state and national level competitions.
Today, Arshdeep serves as a coach at the Sahibzada Ajit Singh Academy in Ropar, which houses three shooting ranges, and is the general secretary of the Ropar Rifle Shooting Association (RRSA).
He credits his inspiration to Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra.
Later, fellow teachers Avtar Singh Dhanoa, lecturer in economics at the same school, and Ranjit Singh, now a retired Punjabi teacher from Shantpur village, joined hands with Banga.
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The trio sought donations to build the infrastructure-air conditioning units, basic facilities, and equipment-and laid the foundation of what would become an international-standard range.
"Our dream was to provide rural students access to a sport that was earlier considered elite," said Dhanoa, whose twins also passed out from the school after winning gold medals in shooting competitions.
The efforts received official recognition and support when the Ropar deputy commissioner provided two international-standard shooting targets in 2022-23.
This was followed by a state govt grant of Rs 5.4 lakh.
Today, the school has emerged as a hub for aspiring shooters, attracting students not only from Ropar city but also from distant districts like Gurdaspur. Two students from Batala, Jasleen Kaur and Jaideep Singh, have enrolled at Jhallian Kalan School solely to pursue rifle shooting.
"Several of our students clinched gold and silver medals at both state and national school championships in 10mt rifle shooting.
Two students passed out from our school, including my son Arshdeep and another, Arshdeep Kaur, clinched national gold in the 25 meters shooting range. Currently, there is no shooting range with 25 mt and 50 mt in our district, but only 10 mt rifle shooting. It's rewarding to see our grassroots initiative producing results at such a high level," said Banga, who also served on Punjab's technical team for shooting competitions since 2018.
He revealed that one player hailing from Nangal of Ropar district clinched a bronze medal each at the national championship and in Khelo India, in 50 mt rifle shooting, although he didn't take training from Sahibzada Academy or Jhallian village school.
Ropar district sports officer Jagjiwan Singh said, "More than 40 students from Ropar district have won state level gold and around 25 have won gold at national level championships in 10 mt rifle shooting."
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