From summer camp shooting to Asian Games silver: Parth Mane's journey

Just two months shy of his 19th birthday, Parth Mane gave himself an early birthday present in Aichi-Nagoya. Making his Asian Games debut, he won a silver medal in the men’s 10m air rifle team event alongside Rudrankksh Patil and Himanshu Dhillon.

He shot 628.3 in qualification to contribute to India’s podium finish, narrowly missing out on the individual final.

“It is a special moment for me and a special medal, of course, as it is my first senior medal in an international competition,” Mane said after winning silver.

Mane’s shooting journey started with a summer camp back in 2018 with an open-sighted rifle before switching to a peep sight. In 2021, he began training professionally at Lakshya Shooting Club in Panvel.

“I don’t remember when the flow began. It just happened naturally,” Mane told The Bridge.

Mane was not alone in this journey; his family played a major role. During the lockdown, when regular training was disrupted, his parents built a shooting range inside their home to ensure Mane continued practising.

“Family supported me a lot. During lockdown, they built a range inside my home. There was a pulley, there was a manual machine, and I trained even during the lockdown,” he said.

His father, an assistant police inspector with the Maharashtra Police, was the one who initially pushed him to pursue shooting. His mother gave emotional support.

“I didn’t even expect that my family would support me this much in shooting,” he said, adding, “It is great to have these people around me.”

Mane won a youth gold at the 2022 World Asian Shooting Championship before claiming the 2024 Junior World Championship title.

Mane has been around in the senior circuit for just two years and the transition has come with its own challenges.

“Initially, definitely, it was a challenge for me to participate at this level, but that came naturally. I didn’t have to force anything,” he said.

With his first senior international medal around his neck, Mane takes it as another step in his learning curve.

“It is a special medal, a good experience and good learning also,” he concluded.

(With inputs from PTI)