NEW DELHI, July 16: Samaresh Jung stands alone in the 50-metre shooting range. He takes aim. The pistol in his hand seems like a little toy. But he has woven his life, for the past few years, around this very toy. And he's not going to part with it in a hurry. After giving up his job at an Internet consultancy firm, he neither works nor studies. Only shoots.He wanted to be a doctor and almost became one. But the 26-year-old, the eldest among three brothers, returned in 1993 from Poland where he had gone on a scholarship.His return to India does not smack of a predetermined resolve to become a part of the Indian shooting fratenity. He was plain broke. As long as the Communist government was in power, the scholarship saw him through. But with the collapse of Communism, he was expected to pay $ 10,000. ``No regrets,'' he says about his decision.Now we know him as the one who made Jaspal Rana do a double take at the National Games, winning the gold in the 10-metre air pistol event.The first thing you notice about Samaresh is his frame. But, for all his rotundity and unhurried gait, he speaks in short, clipped sentences. Late twenties he may be in, but his earnest, childlike eyes shine through his black framed spectacles and add to the convexity of his perspiring face.Sitting in the open-air 10-metre range, looking out onto the vast expanse of green at the Dr Karni Singh shooting ranges in Tughlakabad, Samaresh talks about the present and thinks about his prospects a few years down the line.He started shooting seriously three years ago while simultaneously pursuing a correspondence course in Public Administration and Political Science from Osmania University. His favourite events are the free pistol (which has been given to him by SAI) and air pistol. ``I also do the centrefire and standard pistol but that's only to loosen up,'' says Jung who traces his roots to the hilly Himachal.For him, pistols have been a family affair. His grand father Colonel Sher Jung who authored a book titled `Gunlore', and father Sheilesh Jung, were avid shooters.Right now, Samaresh is practising for the Commomwealth Championships selection camp to be held at Bangalore in August. Earlier this year, he had lost to Rana in the air pistol event in the Commonwealth Championships but avenged that defeat in the National Games at Bangalore.June 3 and 4, 1997, will not be easily forgotten by this roly poly Jung. In the free pistol event at Bangalore, his statemate Vivek Singh upstaged Jaspal Rana, and so did Samaresh. Though he was trailing by three points behind Vivek after the qualifying rounds, Samaresh was 10 points ahead of Jaspal and he came up with a good score of 10.6 in the fourth and seventh rounds and 10.7 in the last, nearly overtaking Vivek. And both of them erased the earlier record set by Rana at Mumbai in 1994. Samaresh bagged the silver with 634.1 points, just 0.7 pts behind Vivek.Next day it was Samaresh's turn to shock Rana, in the 10m air pistol event. Rana trailed by a point after the qualifying stage but recovered and even led briefly after the fourth card but Samaresh stuck on and struck gold.So what lies on the road ahead? ``My ultimate aim is to reach international scores in the region of 585. The Olympic gold medal went for 587 points,'' he says. His best revoles around 570 now.Don't his parents have any qualms about their eldest son frittering away life at the shooting range ? ``My parents are behind me. They understand my needs and they have never doubted my intentions. I'm lucky.''There is something reassuring about Samaresh Jung which tells you that everything is fine with the world. But that is just a facade. Inside him there lives a compelling dream. He calls it 585.
