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| Human Interest | |
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Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | Pune, IND |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Club / Team | Gun for Glory Shooting Academy: Pune, IND |
Further Personal Information | |
| Higher education | Computing - Osmania University: Hyderabad, IND |
General Interest | |
| Hobbies | Photography. (dnaindia.com, 18 Jul 2017) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | He was encouraged to try the sport by his father, who bought him an air pistol. |
General Interest | |
| Most influential person in career | His parents. (The Hindu, 12 Sep 2002) |
| Hero / Idol | US politician Barack Obama. (rediff.com, 05 Nov 2008) |
| Ambitions | To train shooters who can win medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (newindianexpress.com, 25 Jun 2017) |
| Awards and honours | In 2011 he received a Padma Shri award, which recognises a person's excellent contribution in different areas of public life in India. (calcuttanews.net, 25 Jan 2011) In 2011 he was presented with a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna [RGKR] award by the government of India. (dnaindia.com, 24 Jul 2011) In 2006 he received an Arjuna Award. (Rediff, 29 Aug 2006) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Oleg Mikhailov [national], UKR; Kanwar Randhir Singh [national], IND |
| Handedness | Right eye, right hand |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He began shooting at age 10. |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Airline Worker, Athlete, Coach |
| Languages | Hindi, English |
General Interest | |
| Other information | OCCUPATION He is employed by Air India under a sports quota programme that allows him to train and compete internationally. (Air India YouTube channel, 03 May 2017) SHOOTING ACADEMY He set up a shooting academy named Gun for Glory in Pune, India. "I saw a lot of struggle in the initial days of my career. My father had to sell his land, where he had planned to build a house, to buy a rifle for me. After I got medals at international level, people used to ask me about where to send their kids for shooting and I had nothing to suggest. Today, I am in a position to give back to society. Through this academy we aim to train talented shooters and support them in the future, so that no other father will have to sell his land to buy rifles." (LinkedIn profile, 2016; dnaindia.com, 24 Jul 2011) |
| Injuries | He sustained a neck injury at the 2015 World Cup event in Gabala, Azerbaijan. (indianexpress.com, 11 Aug 2015) A knee injury forced him to withdraw from the 2013 World Cup event in Granada, Spain. (indiatimes.com, 29 Jun 2013) |
| Sporting philosophy / motto | "Passion, obsession and drive are absolutely necessary when you are in pursuit of excellence." (ibnlive.com, 23 Sep 2015) |