Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Shooter Arjun Thakur, the son of a small-time farmer from Madhya Pradesh, claimed the gold medals in the men’s skeet event at the ongoing Khelo India University Games on Tuesday.
Hailing from a village near Bhopal, Arjun said he had to work extra hard to make an impact at the national level.
He has a personal best of 119/125 in skeet, but the competition is very challenging at the senior level. “The final match was tough as all the finalists were international shooters with good experience,” he added. "Winning the skeet title was good exposure for me ahead of next month’s domestic selection trials,” he said.
Arjun said he was always curious to know about shooting but never had an idea until he started shotgun (skeet) in 2016. “I attended the summer camp organised by Bhopal Shooting Academy in 2016. After the camp, I was enrolled in the academy,” recalls the skeet shooter.
Since shotgun is an expensive sport, it was beyond the reach of Arjun’s family to support his passion. “I was lucky to have been selected for the government-run Bhopal Shooting Academy. I got all the facilities, including equipment to practise,” Arjun added.
Arjun, a good sprinter in his school days, said his best time was 11 seconds dead in the 100-metre dash. But he saw no future in athletics. Therefore, he switched to baseball and played for four long years before quitting and trying his hand at shotgun. “I quit baseball as it was not an Olympic event,” he said of switching to shotgun.
He was a raw shooter at the 2016 summer camp in Bhopal. Since his reaction time was good, he could quickly learn the fundamentals of shotgun shooting. He went on to win bronze in the junior national competition in 2018.
The following year, he was selected for the Indian team to compete at the 2019 Junior World Cup and World Championship. The international competitions further motivated him to improve his shooting skills. “I didn’t win any medals on my international debut but learned a lesson that I need to further improve my skills. Without which, it will not be possible to make an impact,” he added.
