Shooter Heena begins preparations for Asian Games

Bhopal: Former world number 1 shooter Heena Sidhu has begun her preparations for the upcoming Asian Games in the right earnest, focusing primarily on polishing basics and strengthening technique.

The ace shooter is focusing on strengthening her technique and polishing the basics as she looks to put up a strong show at the Jakarta Games next month, following her twin medal feat at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Heena is currently undergoing preparations at the

NRAI-organised national camp in the state-of-the-art Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal, where she is

training for close to 8-9 hours a day in a bid to hone her skills ahead of the quadrennial tournament.

A lot of emphasis is

being laid on her stability and trigger coordination in the 10 metre air pistol event and shot timing in the 25 metre sport pistol, the latter being a time fire event.

"This camp is more about polishing the basics and strengthening the technique and then the next one on August will be more about exposing myself to pressure and contingencies," said Heena, who won a gold in the 25 metre sport pistol and a silver in the 10 metre air pistol at the Gold Coast Games.

"For the 25 metre sport pistol, we are working on smoother and precise lifting while in the 10 metre, a lot of work is being done on scatt which is a simulation software for training."

Heena's day begins with a mental training session at 6 am and is followed by intense sessions at the range.

"The camp has four days of training and one day rest in between," said Heena.

"Apart from all this, I am also making sure to have a healthy balanced diet to ensure I can manage to take the load and get a good night's sleep for proper recovery."

The Asian Games will be held from August 18 to September 2 in Jakarta and Palembang.