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Indian shooter Kynan Darius Chenai clinched bronze in the trap men’s final to add another medal in the 2023 Asian Games. The 32-year-old also combined with Zoravar Singh and Prithviraj Todaiman to accumulate 361 points as India bagged its first gold medal in the men's trap team event.
Kynan got his first impression of shooting from his father Darius Chenai, a former national shooting champion in the trap event. The guns in his father’s room caught the attention of the son at a very young age.
Kynan Chenai was born on January 29, 1991, in a Parsi family in Hyderabad. He went to the Hebron School in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, and completed his schooling there. He opted for German as his elective foreign language at the international school. Kynan started shotgun trap shooting in 2003 when he was just 12 years old and would often practice in Ooty where there were shooting trenches available.
Kynan wasn’t interested in studies. After the completion of his school hours, Kynan would play sports like football and hockey or indulge in physical activities like running and swimming. His father coached him in the early part of his shooting days and helped him groom his skills.
The Hyderabad boy won gold medals at the state level in trap, double trap, and skeet categories at the age of 12. He was fourth on the national front in the GV Mavlankar tournament, as reported by the Times of India. He also won the gold medal in the Junior Men’s Trap Shooting at the 50th National Shooting Championships held in Jaipur in 2007.
Kynan went to London to pursue his higher studies and joined Brunel London University in Business Management and Sports Science. In his later stages with shooting, Kynan was trained by four-time Olympian Mansher Singh. He represented India at the Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 in Pune, where he clinched the gold medal in trap shooting.
Kynan Chenai’s debut in Olympics
Kynan Chenai was fascinated by watching the Olympic rings as a young kid and made a commitment to himself that one day he would feature at the Olympics. Kynan led a pack of 75 shooters at the 2016 ISSF Shooting World Cup in Baku. He missed out on a medal even after qualifying for the finals in the men’s trap event.
Kynan finished fourth at the Men’s Trap event at the Asia Olympic Shooting qualifiers and secured one of the four available slots for the Rio Olympics. He finished 19th in the men's trap event in his first Olympics event. He didn't participate in the Tokyo Olympics as there was no representation for India in the men's trap event for the first time since 1992.
