By Saurabh Duggal  

Shooting sport has been a game changer in the rural areas of Baghpat and its bordering district Meerut in the western Uttar Pradesh. With limited landholdings, the youth look towards a government job to supplement the family income. And they find shooting, an easy route to get the jobs in the army or paramilitary forces.   

Saurabh Choudhary was also not an exception when he joined Amit Sheoran’s shooting academy in Binauli village, around 15km form this native village Kalina on the Baghpat-Meerut border. His initial priority too was a government job under the sports quota, but after few months of training, the target shifted to eyeing a berth in a national squad. Later a gold in the very first national brought Olympics in focus.   

“When Saurabh’s elder brother Nitin brought him to the shooting range, their ultimate target was to get a job in the Indian army. In last one-and-half decade shooting has helped many youngsters in the rural belt of Baghpat to get the government jobs. So, the youngsters want to learn the sport as it could help them securing a future,” says shooting coach Sheoran.

Shifting focus to Olympics

“Saurabh came to me in late 2015 and in few months, he showed his class. He was then shooting 360-365 points (out of 400), which was quite a good score for a beginner. I called his brother and told him that Saurabh is made for bigger things and they should drop the idea of securing a sports quota job in the army. The family gave serious thought to my advice and bought him a personal pistol. Before that he was using a common pistol on the range. He became the national champion in all three categories (youth, junior and senior) in his very first nationals in 2016. Since then Olympics came into our focus and Tokyo became our target,” recalls Sheoran. “Saurabh’s exponential growth in the sport changed everyone’s perspective in Baghpat region. Now, the kids want to learn shooting to be an Asian Games champion or to compete in the Olympics like him.”