With her eyes on the target

Budding shooter from uttarakhand, Zara Davina Mann, who dreams of making it to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, has already started working on it::

Sonia Pandey

She is a state shooting champion, who has also represented her school basketball team at the national level. She has won both gold and silver medals in senior women's open team and individual events in Uttarakhand State Shooting Championship held this year.

"I started shooting when I was 12. I enjoy shooting a lot," states 16-year-old Zara Davina Mann, a Class X1student of St. Thomas College.

"Many years ago, when I saw her shooting balloons in a fair, although she had never picked up a gun in her life before, I realized that she was a naturally born marksman and had the making of a champion," recalls her father Greg Mann, renowned educationist of the city. "Since then, we have given her all encouragement and have had her trained by an expert," adds her mother Susan.

Zara practises at least a couple of hours every day in The Doon Institute of Shooting and Sports and does about six championships annually. Her routine includes warming up exercises, holding the gun, taking the target, shooting 10 dry shots and then finally the target practice.

"You know since I have started shooting, I have become a much more positive person and my concentration power has also increased. It has been an added bonus," says this cherubic champion, who also loves acting.

She uses a Morim, a special air pistol, which was gifted by her father. "It was gifted to me when I won my first gold medal. It was such a wonderful surprise that I started crying," she remembers, smiling brightly at the memory. "It is the best gift I have ever received. I also have a wonderful coach Mayank Marwah, who works very hard with me. I have been lucky to get to travel to many places in India for shooting championships and my sisters are jealous of all my travelling," she laughs. According to the budding shooter, a strong power of concentration, dedication and a positive attitude towards life are very important to become a good marksman. "And I think I have them all. I would definitely want to continue shooting in college and would love to take it up as a career. My dream is to make it to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014."