New Town Business Club hosted an inter-club air rifle shooting tournament this season and beat the odds to win it too.

The contest was the first of its kind at the venue and saw four other clubs taking part. The host team forwarded two teams. “Every team comprised four members out of whom one had to be a lady and another under-18. We wanted to encourage everyone,” said Deep Sengupta, captain of the Business Club team that won the event. A resident of Salt Lake’s FD Block, Sengupta has been a national level shooter and mentors aspiring shooters at the club.

Participants were to shoot the target from 10m away, using 0.177 air rifles and each one got 10 shots. Soubhik Sengupta of Eastern Metropolitan Club became the highest scorer with 92 points but the business club scored the highest as a team. “Our club doesn’t have the set-up for shooting but I take part wherever there are events like this. The business club was a little far from the city centre but we enjoyed our stint here,” said Sengupta. Calcutta Rowing Club, Lake Club and Outram Club also took part.

“We planned this tournament when we realised that our infrastructure was much better than that at other social clubs. They put up ad hoc equipment and organise shooting tournaments and still get terrific response so why not us?” said general manager Col (retd) Indrajit Roy.

Shooting at the host club began in 2018 and there are 15 to 20 members practising regularly. “I had never considered shooting as a sport till the facility was offered at our club,” said Aditi Sengupta, one of the participants in the tournament. “Now I love it so much I’m thinking of getting my own rifle.”

The club also hosted a photography exhibition next to the shooting range that members like Supriyo Samanta and Roy himself contributed to.