Shooting away to glory

Sheroan won her first national medal in 2011 in the school nationals and shot her best score of 580/600 in Shooting Hopes Memorial Shooting Championship held in Czech Republic earlier this year.

On Wednesday, 17-year-old Panchkula shooter Gauri Sheoran rose to fame by clinching a silver medal in the finals of the Air Pistol 10-M junior event in the Asian Airgun Shooting Championship being held at Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi.

“It feels great to win the medal. The competition was tough as shooters from 14 countries took part in the event. Though my pet event is 25-M Air Pistol, I have been practising for some time. The silver medal will boost my confidence a lot,” shared Sheroan, whose father, Jagdeep Singh (IAS), is Director Sports, Haryana.

Sheroan won her first national medal in 2011 in the school nationals and shot her best score of 580/600 in Shooting Hopes Memorial Shooting Championship held in Czech Republic earlier this year. Sheoran is a student of BA English Honours at DAV College, Sector 10, and will also represent India in the junior category in the 25-M Air Pistol event in the Asian Shooting Championship to be held in Kuwait in November. The youngster trains under Daleep Singh Chandel, while selection in the Indian team has also given her an opportunity to train under renowned foreign coach Smirnov Pavel, who has worked with the likes of London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar.

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“She has been in Delhi for two weeks and has also spent some time with Pavel, who is among the best pistol shooters in the world. This will boost her confidence,” shared Gauri’s father.

Meanwhile, another Panchkula shooter, Yashaswini Deswal, narrowly missed the bronze medal in the women’s senior 10-M Air Pistol event when she finished a credible fourth after shooting 157.3 in the final. But Deswal ended her disappointment by winning the team a gold medal in the same event along with Heena Sidhu and Shweta Gawande. “Finishing fourth in the senior event in the Asian Championship is a huge achievement for Yashaswini, and shooting along with players like Heena Sidhu will add to her confidence. This performance will help her in the Asian Championships to be held in Kuwait,” shared Deswal’s coach, Tejinder Singh Dhillon.

Nitin Sharma

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More

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