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An Economics graduate from the prestigious Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi and a very meritorious alumnus of St. Anthony’s Junior College, Agra; meet 21 year old Indian 10m air rifle shooting prodigy Aayushi Gupta.
A young Aayushi picked up shooting at the young age of 14 and since her start in 2008, she was the Uttar Pradesh state champion consecutively for the next four years till 2012. Within just a year of her starting, she managed the gold medal at the National Inter School Shooting Championship and that too with a record score.
“Shooting happened just by chance. It all started when a shooting range was inaugurated in my school. I was always into sports and hence I tried my hands at shooting just like that. But different things were waiting as I really got into this sport. I won medals in school and that motivated me even more”, said Aayushi, speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda.
“My dad has been very supportive. He himself was a weightlifter and when I told him that I wanted to pursue shooting, he immediately went up to my school coach and asked him to do whatever was needed. He supported my choice despite knowing the fact that shooting is an expensive sport”, she added.
School was just the beginning. Since 2010, Aayushi has been the gold medallist in the Uttar Pradesh (Open) State Championship for five consecutive years now along with being the Northern Indian gold medallist for four consecutive years between 2011 and 2014. It seems she has made quite a habit of winning back to back titles.
“I really enjoy the sport. It’s probably a boring sport for the followers as most people also do not follow it because it doesn’t really have any physical activity associated with it. But it’s a really interesting sport. My interest for it further increased when Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won a medal in the 2004 Olympics followed by Abhinav Bindra winning the gold in 2008. It motivated me to work even harder,” she continued.
In 2012, in the first edition of the Gun for Glory Shooting Championship in Pune, this girl from Agra won four medals in all (2 gold & 2 silver) alongside a training scholarship worth five lakh rupees. She almost repeated the same feat in the third edition of the championship in 2014 winning two gold medals again and a bronze.
An asset of Delhi University, Aayushi represented the University in the National Inter University Championship in Chandigarh in 2013 and with no surprise, won two gold medals. A regular member of the UP State shooting squad since 2009, Aayushi has also been a regular name in the national shooting squad of late. In fact, she represented India at the 1st ISSF Junior Cup in Suhl, Germany last year.
At an age when most 21 year olds in India are busy with their education, Gupta just doesn’t have a list of awards to her kitty but also a brilliant academic record to her name.
“I was a regular student at LSR and maintained an attendance of about 80% throughout my three years of graduation. I practiced only on weekends and that’s how I kept up with my passion. This year though, I took break and have decided to concentrate a year just on my shooting”, said Aayushi.
She also shed light on how difficult is it to train as a shooter in India, particularly if you are a student. She believes that there are just a handful of international standard shooting ranges in India and the others are not so perfect.
“The initial few days were really difficult in Delhi, you can’t board a metro with your equipment neither can you take public transport. So, I had to wait for my car to arrive so that I could go for practice. Fortunately though, Delhi University is now constructing its own shooting range in North Campus and this would be of very much help to young shooters”, she said.
Having just graduated from Delhi University, Aayushi really hopes to make it big and like every sportsperson, wants to represent the country at the Olympics.
“My current national rank is around 5-6. During my college days, it used to be around 15-16, but since this year I took a year off, it really did reflect well on my rankings. I am really expecting to be amongst the top five in the next updated list,” said the 21 year old.
“There are World Cups, international tournaments and of course, the Olympics. I want to win medals for India, but here I am also competing with some very senior names in the circuit. There are people who have been shooting for years more than my age. I do have hurdles to take care of, and I will do so.” She added.
India has a quite good pool of shooters who have got us lots of laurels in the international circuit. Names like Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Abhibav Bindra and Gagan Narang are household names today. And very soon we hope Aayushi Gupta too joins the list. The best part about shooting is that there is no age limit for the sport; Rathore won his Olympic medal in his late thirties. This prodigy here definitely has a very bright future awaiting her.
