Suma Shirur’s Lakshya Shooting Club opens seven-storey high-performance centre in Belapur

File | Suma intends to begin with a small cohort of six to eight residential athletes, alongside a high-performance programme for those on the brink of international competition and a development squad for talented shooters aged 13 to 19. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The red state transport bus that once took Suma Shirur from Panvel to Dadar and beyond for shooting practice has come to symbolise how far the Olympian has travelled in her pursuit of creating a better ecosystem for Indian shooters.

Twenty years after founding Lakshya Shooting Club, Suma on Wednesday unveiled the Axis Bank Lakshya Shooting Club High Performance Centre in Belapur. Olympic medallist Gagan Narang inaugurated the seven-storey facility in the presence of six other Olympians and several shooting stalwarts.

Equipped with two modern shooting ranges, a sports science laboratory, a gym, a mind gym, a Pilates studio, residential accommodation and a lounge, the centre is designed as a one-stop destination for aspiring shooters. Supported by Axis Bank and the Government of Maharashtra, it aims to provide athletes with the infrastructure and expertise needed to compete at the highest level.

“Like all the Olympians from my generation will agree, we never had access to anything. We only saw others using it and wished that we had,” Suma said.

“I would like to create things that I never got.” The former India coach said her ambition extended beyond building a facility for Lakshya’s own athletes.

“I don’t want them to run around the world. I want them to come here and be a part of Lakshya Shooting Club,” she said, emphasising that the centre would welcome shooters aspiring to represent India.

Suma intends to begin with a small cohort of six to eight residential athletes, alongside a high-performance programme for those on the brink of international competition and a development squad for talented shooters aged 13 to 19.

Narang, who cut the ribbon, said the facility was the product of years of hard work, sacrifice and belief. He also highlighted the role played by Suma’s husband, Siddharth, an architect who helped translate her vision into a physical space.

“Your circumstances may limit your resources. But they should never limit your dreams,” Narang told the young athletes.

For Suma, the next challenge is to make the centre sustainable and ensure that financial constraints do not prevent talented shooters from accessing it. She also hopes to integrate technology more deeply into training, helping coaches analyse performance and accelerate athletes’ development.

“This is just the beginning,” she said, looking towards a future in which the centre helps Indian shooting become a global powerhouse.