In a sport filled with stars, can Hriday Hazarika forge his own identity?

Shooting has been one of India's favorite sports for the last decade. Ever since Abhinav Bindra shot his way to a Gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, India has been hooked to the sport.

Bindra helped uplift the sport in India, give it a new life. He inspired a completely new generation to take up a relatively new sport and master it. 

Ever since the Beijing Olympics, India has produced some wonderful shooters. Heena Sidhu and Jitu Rai have been amongst them, winning medals for India at the Commonwealth Games. Shooting in India is even producing some brilliant young athletes, such as Manu Bhaker, Mehuli Ghosh, and Anish Bhanwala, all of whom won medals during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Hriday Hazarika is the latest name to join this star-studded sport. Although, it remains to be seen if he is able to create an identity for himself within the popular sport.

​The youngster was born in Assam after the turn of the century and started shooting some years ago. Hriday hails from a non-sporting family, unlike many other shooters. Both his parents are school teachers.

Undeniable potential 

At youth levels domestically, Hriday has been performing well for some years now. He started shooting some years ago from a shooting range in Guwahati and qualified for the Kumar Surendra Singh National Championships soon after.

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It was at the championships that Hriday showcased his talents as he created a Junior national record.

Since then, Hriday participated in and won many honors domestically. Amongst his most notable victories was a clean sweep during the Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Masters Shooting Championships in New Delhi. The youngster took part in three events and claimed the Gold medal in all three of those.

Hriday performed well in the National Rifle Association of India's selection trials as well, finishing on the podium on several occasions over the years.

Finding a rhythm  

However, as every athlete has their ups and downs, Hriday's came at Khelo India.

Khelo India was a newly launched initiative by the Sports Ministry at the wish of the Prime Minister which allowed U-17 sportspersons to take part in an Olympic-styled tournament.

Going into the competition, Hriday was ranked no. 1 in the NRAI charts and was expected to bag a medal.

The youngster even finished at the top of the qualifying charts of his event- 10m Air Rifle- but could only manage to finish sixth during the final.

Internationally speaking, Hriday wasn't able to stamp his authority on overseas events. He took part in three International Shooting Sport Federation events but didn't make the podium in any of those.

His first ISSF tournament came in Suhl, Germany where he finished 36th followed by two 8th place finishes in Wako City and Tehran.

However, that changed yesterday.

Hope for the future

Hriday shot a score of 248.7 in the final of the ISSF Junior World Cup to win the Gold medal. The youngster finished 0.3 points ahead of his closest challenger.

Not only did Hriday win the gold medal, he dominated his event right from the very beginning. He topped the chart during qualification with a total score of 627.1 and shot below 10.0 just three times during the final.

Hriday had been a bit inconsistent leading up to the World Junior Championships. However, his latest exploits will reiterate his position as one of India's best shooting prospects for the future.

India already has a strong shooting line-up for the coming years. Manu Bhaker and Mehuli Ghosh lead the way in Women's events while Anish Bhanwala is doing the same for Men. If Hriday indeed manages to bring some consistency to his game and keep performing as he did in the Junior Championships, India will have yet another brilliant young shooter in their ranks for the future events.