Gun licence eludes Tokyo Paralympics shooter Deepender Singh

Indian shooter Deepender Singh can hold his head high for representing the country at the Tokyo Paralympics which ended recently. Deepender ultimately finished 10th in the SH1 class in the men’s 10m air pistol event in Tokyo but he was aspiring for more.

Deepender rues the fact that a lack of gun licence meant that he had to use borrowed equipment to compete at the Paralympics. The shooter from Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh is a 2017 para shooting World Cup champion and a 2019 Asian champion but a gun licence continues to elude him. He has been doing the rounds of the concerned departments for more than one and a half years now with all the required paperwork in tow but hasn’t been able to procure a gun licence, according to Hindustan newspaper.

He has won two medals at the world shooting para sport world cup. His first medal was a gold at the 2017 para shooting world cup in Bangkok. He won a second medal in 2018 at the para shooting world cup in Chateau Roux, France.

Deepender hails from a family of farmers in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh. He was diagnosed with polio at a young age with his right leg was permanently impaired as an effect of the polio.

He has gone on to achieve success as a para shooter while facing the challenges of coming from a poor family and his impairment. 

Indian shooter Singhraj Adana claimed the bronze medal in the P1 men’s 10m air pistol SH1 event of the Paralympics in Tokyo on Tuesday (August 31), the same event as Deepender. Adana shot a total of 216.8 to finish the event in the third place after qualifying for the eight-man final as the sixth best shooter.