'My thumb is damaged beyond repair'

'I might have to compete in para category, but all that I will know when my injury report is made after four weeks," the shooter, who hails from Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh.'

Injured national-level shooter Pushpender might be staring at a bleak future, or possibly competing in the para category after suffering grievous injuries to his left thumb in a freak mishap while filling his air pistol cylinder with compressed air a few days back.

Pushpender, 31, was training at a private shooting range in Greenfield, Faridabad on December 2 for the National championships in Bhopal when the pistol's gas cylinder exploded when he was refilling it from the main cylinder, resulting in half of his left thumb getting "completely smashed".

"There is no possibility of reconstruction of the thumb as it has got smashed completely," Pushpender told PTI on Wednesday, exactly 10 days after he underwent a four-hour surgery at the Army's R&R Hospital in New Delhi.

"The thumb cannot be reconstructed. It got smashed completely. Had it been a knife injury or an injury caused by a sharp-edged object, the thumb could have been reconstructed but, in my case, it is damaged beyond repair, crushed," said the Indian Air Force (IAF) corporal.

The incident happened on that fateful day on December 2 when he was trying to put the overwhelming memory of the demise of his mother on November 2 to Stage 4 brain cancer and severe damage to the liver, at the back of his mind and concentrate on training for the nationals just a couple of days away in Bhopal.

"I was re-filling my 10m air pistol cylinder from the main cylinder. I had filled up my first pistol cylinder without any issues. But when I was unscrewing the second cylinder from the main cylinder it exploded, ripping off half my left thumb," added Pushpender, describing the incident.

"I have cried enough. Lost my father in 2014, my mother on November 2 this year and a month later my left thumb. God is unhappy with me, that's all I can say. I am emotionally drained... had been training for the nationals for so long, but when the time came, this mishap happened," said a distraught Pushpender, who was in hospital for six days.

"But the injury has steeled my resolve... be it the Olympics or the Paralympics. The recovery is going fine. Will I compete in the normal category or para category, that will be known when the doctor assesses my thumb after four weeks.

"While I shoot with the right hand, adjusting the grip of the pistol on the right hand is done with the left hand. Loading the air pellets is also done with the left hand. So, the left hand plays a big role even if one shoots with the right. How will I pick the pellets and insert them into the barrel? I don't have an answer to that," he said.

"I might have to compete in para category, but all that I will know when my injury report is made after four weeks," the shooter, who hails from Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh, added.

"Every athlete has a dream to compete in the Olympics... if not Olympics then Paralympics. Come what may, I will not leave the camp or shooting sport."

Pushpender expressed his gratitude to all those who helped him when the accident occurred.

"One of my IAF teammates took off his T-shirt and wrapped it around my thumb to prevent excessive bleeding. A private shooter took me in his personal vehicle to hospital. (World Cup medallist in 10 air rifle) Ravi Kumar was by my side all the time in hospital," said Pushpender, who conceded the air pistol cylinder was of 2017 make, which had been recalled by the weapons manufacturer for free replacement.

"I was called to Delhi just two months back from my posting in Bhuj, Gujarat to train for the Nationals. I had heard that the pistol manufacturer has recalled the pistol cylinders made in 2016 and 2017 but somehow it wasn't changed. Had the cylinder been changed, this mishap wouldn't have occurred," he added.

Air pistols and air rifles have a sleek gas cylinder attached just below the barrel. When the shooter presses the trigger, the compressed gas in the cylinder is released, which hits a hammer inside the air gun, ejecting the lead pellet.

The air pistol's cylinder has to be filled after a certain number of shots with the help of a compressor or a portable cylinder.