India’s shooting contingent boasts of stars such as Jitu Rai and Heena Sindhu, but there are three teenagers that will be part of the team at the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
Pistol shooters Anish Bhanwala (Haryana) and Manu Bhaker (Haryana) and rifle shooter Mehuli Ghosh (Bengal) will be travelling with the 27-member team to Gold Coast.
Here’s a look at the three junior shooters ahead of the big tournament which begins on 4 April.
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1. Anish Bhanwala
The 16-year-old Anish Bhanwala will be taking part in the 25m rapid fire event. The Haryana shooter recorded a junior world record at the ISSF Junior World Championship in June 2017, when he scored 579 in the 25m Standard Pistol event to clinch the gold medal.
Bhanwala, who found his love for shooting while training for modern pentathlon, was selected in the Indian squad after an impressive showing at the national championship in 2017.
Bhanwala clinched an individual bronze medal in the 25 metre Rapid Fire Pistol event and a team gold in the 25 metre Sports Pistol event at the Shooting Hopes in Czech Republic in 2018.
The 16-year-old has defeated veteran shooters such as Gurpreet Singh and Vijay Kumar (Olympic silver medallist).
2. Manu Bhaker
The 16-year-old Manu Bhaker showed her prowess when she defeated World Cup medalist Heena Sidhu to win the National Shooting Championship in December last year. She also broke Sidhu’s record (240.8 points) with a score of 242.3 points.
Bhaker, who will be participating in the 10m air pistol event at CWG, had her first brush with success at the international stage, when she won the silver medal at the Asian Junior Championships last year.
Bhaker topped these achievements with two golds at the ISSF World Cup, earlier this month. She won the women's 10m air pistol event to become the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the World Cup.
She went to win the 10m air pistol mixed team gold medal with Om Prakash Mitharval as well.
Bhaker, who has excelled in other sports such as boxing, skating, martial arts and tennis, picked up shooting two years ago. It was Bhaker’s father who took her to the shooting range and introduced her to the sport.
3. Mehuli Ghosh
The 17-year-old Mehuli Ghosh will be taking part in the 10m air rifle event at CWG. The current national champion won two golds and seven silvers in Nationals 2016.
Ghosh shone in her first-ever senior World Cup, winning two bronze medals. She clinched the medals in the 10m air rifle women’s event and the mixed team event with Deepak Kumar, earlier this month.
When the Bengal girl participated in the junior shooting championship at Czech Republic last year, she was the only Indian to reach the finals of the competition.
During the national trials in Pune, Ghosh finished first in each of the three categories that she participated in – youth, junior and senior.
The 17-year-old from Baidyabati travels for about four hours to and fro from her training academy. She practices at the Joydeep Karmakar Shooting Academy (JKSA) in Kolkata.
Joydeep Karmakar finished fourth in the 50m rifle prone event at the 2012 Olympics.
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