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| Human Interest | |
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Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | New Delhi, IND |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Riccardo Filippelli [personal], ITA, from 2022 |
| Handedness | Right eye, right hand |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete, Coach |
| Languages | Arabic, English, Hindi |
General Interest | |
| Other sports | He played cricket at national level when he was younger, and captained the U19 Uttar Pradesh team in India. (sportstarlive.com, 17 Oct 2015) |
| Famous relatives | His father competed in shooting at state level in India. (indianexpress.com, 23 Sep 2015) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | A cricket player at university, he was involved in shooting as a hobby. One day he was approached by former national trap coach Timur Matoian, who had seen him shooting at a range in New Delhi, India. "He had been watching me for a few weekends. Finally he came up to me and said that my technique was terrible. However, he offered to help me correct it if I got into shooting seriously." |
General Interest | |
| Hero / Idol | Swiss tennis player Roger Federer, Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan. (followyoursport.com, 20 Oct 2016; sportstarlive.com, 17 Oct 2015) |
| Ambitions | To compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (thebridge.in, 18 Sep 2022) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He began shooting in 1998, and first competed in 2003. |
General Interest | |
| Sporting philosophy / motto | "If I miss a target during training I feel more pain because in training you don't have pressure." (hindustantimes.com, 30 Nov 2019) |
| Other information | NEW COACH In March 2022 he began training with Riccardo Filippelli with a view to competing at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. "I know this is a cliche, but age is just a number [Filippelli is four years younger than him]. I do not look at it in this way. I just need someone to push me, teach me, and give me a plan to follow. Riccardo does not shoot now, but he was one of the best during his days. There are some things which I did not know about at all before I started working with him, so all in all I am learning a lot from him each day." (thebridge.in, 18 Sep 2022; timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 22 Jul 2022; Sports Today YouTube channel, 21 Jul 2022) CRICKETER He played cricket at national level when he was younger, captaining the U19 Uttar Pradesh team in India. "Because of cricket my reflexes, concentration level, and physical fitness were really good. My coaches didn't have to work much on those areas. I am a shooter but I am still attached to my first love cricket. I still follow cricket." (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 28 Apr 2020) |
| Hobbies | Watching films. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 22 Jul 2022) |
| Milestones | He became the first shooter representing India to win the individual skeet competition at a World Cup event by claiming victory at the 2022 tournament in Changwon, Republic of Korea. (SportsDeskOnline, 21 Apr 2023; timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 22 Jul 2022; olympics.com, 18 Jul 2022) |