New Delhi: At the age of 65, when many people are leading a retired life, Chandro Tomar began her journey as a shooter.
At 86, she is perhaps the oldest sharpshooter in the world, having won numerous championships.
A resident of Johri village, in the Baghpat district of India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, Tomar is referred to as ‘Revolver Rani’ and ‘Shooter Dadi’.
“Initially, after every win, I was given a new nickname,” Tomar laughs.
Recalling the day she first held a pistol in hand, in 1999, she said, “I had accompanied my granddaughter to a shooting range set-up under a tree, in the courtyard of a dilapidated haveli. She was training to be a shooter. I casually picked up a pistol and aimed at the target. With that one shot, my life took a turnaround.”
She was spotted by the coach, Dr Rajpal Singh, who saw potential in her and persuaded her to practise regularly.
“Soon it became a passion with me. And to master the skill of keeping my arm straight and steady, I would practice a lot. But this training was slightly different. I would hold a jug full of water as if I were holding a pistol!” she said.
Shedding inhibitions, Tomar began frequenting the shooting range to train herself. But it wasn’t easy for her to enter what is traditionally seen as a man’s domain, in a village with conservative mindsets, as women were restricted to household work.
“I was often ridiculed by villagers,” Tomar recalls. “Even my husband was not happy with the new-found love in my life. But I was far from discouraged.”
In 2001, she became the star of 67th Rural Olympics at Qila Raipur in Punjab.
It was her first achievement.
“The first time my photograph was published in a newspaper, it became a matter of celebration,” she beamed.
She had silenced her opponents.
On the advice of the coach, she began participating in competitions nearly every other week.
The grey-haired matriarch’s training with an air pistol had become a much talked about subject in and around the village.
Covered extensively in the media, the villagers had to eat their own words. Plus, “Imagine, they began imploring me to practise more,” Tomar said.
She had started a silent revolution in the village. It did not take long for villagers to begin sending their children, especially girls, to Dr Singh’s classes. The success story, which began with the help of a borrowed pistol, led the village to win district and state honours.
Tomar set an example of how age is not a limiting factor.
“It feels so good when young girls come up to me and say I am their role model,” she gushed. Even though she does not train regularly now, she keeps a straight posture and has clear vision. Not just her children and grandchildren, but even villagers want to be photographed with her.
She has won over 30 championships in 10-metre pistol shooting. Appearing often on TV shows, she has met several Bollywood stars and the story of this octogenarian sportswoman will soon be turned into a film.
Tomar’s village is the only one in the country where hundreds of girls have enrolled to become shooters.
She says, “Since 1998, the village has produced more than 50 international level shooters, of which half are girls. Shooting has not only transformed the lives of village youth, it has, over the years, led hundreds of boys and girls to excel at national and international level winning gold, silver and bronze medals for the country.”
This led the Sports Authority of India to rush to this village few years ago to offer scholarships and incentives to players.
Wearing a long skirt and shirt and head covered with a scarf, as she now walked towards the new shooting range, named B.P. Singhal Indoor Shooting Range, villagers greeted her with respect. “Times have changed. They are the same people who said my place was in the house and not at a shooting range,” she whispered.
The cabinet in the Tomar household is brimming with trophies of shooting recognition and scores of medals adorn the walls. But these laurels have not changed the woman.
She said, “I take pride in my success. But despite my passion for shooting, I continue to do household chores, including cooking for the family, working in the fields and tending to cattle.”
