India, Feb. 3 -- Sift Kaur Samra squeezed in a 21-day break between the National Championships and the ongoing National Games. It is the longest stretch she has spent at home since breaking into the Indian junior team four years ago. The workload that India's top shooters have to manage means Sift has to appear in all the selection trials and domestic competitions to confirm her spot in the national team.

After coming from the Paris Olympics, Sift says she straightaway went into training for the state championships followed by the nationals in December.

"After the nationals I went home, from January 1 to 20th. You can't imagine that it was the first time since I started the game that I took a 20-21 days continuous break," Sift told HT....