How academies played significant part in grooming Indian shooters for Tokyo Olympics

It has been a plethora of struggle, hard work, and perseverance of Indian shooters that has led to world-ranking domination. Ahead of Tokyo Olympics let's take a glance at the journey of Tokyo-bound Indian shooters.

Manu Bhaker-10m air pistol

Manu Bhaker is one of the most decorated Indian shooters. Sports Enthusiast Manu Bhaker started shooting at her Universal Senior Secondary School in Jhajjar district, Haryana. Since 2017 her performance graph has always been in the upward direction. Manu Bhaker trained under former world champion Jaspal Rana in the Junior shooting program.

Saurabh Chaudhary-10m air pistol

Saurabh Chaudhary hails from the Kalina district in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Chaudhary started shooting at the age of thirteen. The youngster had to travel 15kms away from his house, to train at a club run by Aryangateways Sports Foundation. World Champion has been training under coach Amit Sheron. Young Saurabh has been dominating his event since 2018 at the world championships.

Abhishek Verma-10m air pistol

World number one 10m air pistol shooter, Abhishek started shooting as a hobby in 2014. It was not until 2017, Verma started pursuing shooting full-time. He started his shooting journey at a range in Hisar.

Abhishek has been balancing his shooting and academics over the years. His journey is ordinary, but his growth is extraordinary.

Yashaswini Singh Deswal-10m air pistol

10m air pistol shooter first met guns at her uncle's Amry unit. Later on, her dad took her to Badshahpur Shooting Range in Gurugram.

Deswal started shooing in 2011, under coach Tejinder Singh Dhillon. 24- year-old proved that with patience and hard work one can reach their goals.

Tejaswini Sawant-50m rifle, 3positions

50m shooter hails from Kolhapur, Madhya Pradesh. Sawant started her shooting journey at 13. She has been training under personal coach Kuheli Gangulee. Tejaswini is all set to hit the road to her maiden Olympic games after years of hustle and perseverance.

Sanjeev Rajput-50m rifle, 3positions

At 18, Sanjeev joined the Indian Navy and was introduced to guns. His journey started in 2001, and soon he joined the Indian Navy shooting team. Rajput comes from a humble family background of the Yamunanagar district of Haryana.

Sanjeev is the most experienced shooter with two Olympic games representation. However, the 40-year-old still craves his Olympic medal.

Anjum Moudgil-50m rifle, 3positions

Moudgil hails from Chandigarh, Punjab. Rifle shooter was introduced to the sport by her mother, who herself was a shooter. Anjum initially joined NCC and encountered guns. Later on, she got into the junior Indian team and took up shooting professionally. She has been training under Deepali Deshpande since 2014.

Aishwary Pratap Singh-50m rifle, 3positions

20-year-old Aishwary was introduced to shooting through his brother. Later, in 2015, he started his training at the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy. Aishwary has been coaching under former world champion Suma Shirur.

Rahi Sarnobat-25m pistol

Inspired by her fellow Tokyo-bound shooter Tejaswini Sawant, Rahi started shooting. She encountered guns at her NCC Camps.

Her hometown Kolhapur, Madhya Pradesh, lacked the infrastructure for shooting sports. She had to shift to Mumbai to train properly for her dreams.

Rahi has been training under Munkhbayar Dorjsuren, an Olympic medalist. 25m shooter paid for her coaching under Dorjsuren from her own earnings and match reward price. It was a wise investment as Rahi is ready to vie for medals at her second Olympic innings.

Deepak Kumar-10m air rifle

At 9, Deepak joined the Gurukul in Dehradun and initially started competing in Archery. Kumar switched to shooting when Jaspal Rana's father encouraged shooters from Gurukul to join his academy for free. Growing in his career, he joined Air Force and continued his shooting journey.

Apurvi Chandela-10m air rifle

Olympian Apurvi hails from Jaipur, Rajasthan. She came from a strong sports background and was planning to become a sports journalist.

However, Abhinav Bindra's gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics inspired Chandela to take up shooting.

In her initial shooting days, she had to travel 45kms away from her place to practice. Supporting her shooting journey, her father and uncle created a range at home. She has been training under coach Rakesh Manpat.

Elavenil Valarivan-10m air rifle

At 14, Elavenil was introduced to the world of shooting sport. Valarivan has been training at the Gun For Glory shooting academy. Run by Olympic medalist Gagan Narang; who is also the mentor of current world number one. She has been training under coach Neha Chanan.

Divyansh Singh Panwar-10m air rifle

18-year-old Divyansh initially started shooting at the Jangpura shooting range in Jaipur. Later on, his father shifted him to Delhi, where he trained at the Dr. Karni Singh shooting range, Tughlaqabad. Panwar has been training under coach Deepak Kumar Dubey.

Mairaj Ahmad Khan

The veteran skeet shooter started shooting in 1998, introduced to him by his uncle. Ahmad even tried his hands on trap shooting; however, that didn't work out for him.

He has been training under Italian coach Ennio Falco for years. Mairaj played his maiden Olympics, at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Angad Vir Singh Bajwa

Young skeet shooter started his shooting journey at 12. In the initial stages of his career, Bajwa competed at the Canadian Shooting Championships.

In 2015 he shifted to India and continued his shooting. He has been training under coach Jitender Beniwal.