“The way he has been shooting before going to Indonesia, it was evident that he was going to do something,” Lakshay Sheoran’s coach Vikram Singh Chopra said after the 19-year-old won the silver in men’s trap at the ongoing Asian Games.
For Chopra, the chief coach of India’s junior shotgun national team, has seen what the teen shooter from Haryana is capable of in training. In fact, senior national coach Mansher Singh had fast-tracked him into the senior team and with his composed, consistent marksmanship on Monday, Lakshya just showed why he is so highly rated by his coaches.
In the final, the teen scored 43 out of 50 points to win his first big medal at the senior level. In the qualification, he shot 119 out of 125. Consistent. Steady. That is the word Chopra, who has been training him since 2014, associates with him as well.
“It has been steady growth, he has been very consistent. He won the nationals in 2014 and came into the Indian team. I started working with him and have seen him grow,” he added.
In a country where teenage shooting prodigies have climbed up the national ranks and made a mark in the international level in the last year, Lakshay’s success may come across as expected. But trap shooting is not a sport India has always done well in.
Among the exceptions is Manavjit Singh Sandhu, a former world champion. The 41-year-old who won an Asiad silver back in 2006 was in contention today as well, topping the qualification with a score of 119/120 and 12/12 in the shoot-off.
(Follow India’s events on day two here.)
But in the final, it was the youngster who pipped the veteran, just as he had in the selection trials this year where he became India’s No 1 trap shooter.
Fearing the pressure of the occasion, coach Mansher Singh had kept Lakshya away from the crowd at the Games Village and the youngster was only confined to his room. The 19-year-old has won ISSF Junior World Cup medals in the past – a team and a mixed bronze. But an individual event, on the Asian level is different.
But true to his name, he kept his focus on the target (or Lakshya, if one must) and seemed to show no signs of nerves as he coolly blew the clay targets in a burst of colour. In the final, Lakshay missed his first shot. However, the teenager showed great composure to then shoot 17 in a row and was tied for the first spot after 15 shots. Even when he missed a couple more, he maintained his cool. In the words of his coach, “and he has held his nerve and delivered for his country.”
Son of a national champion wrestler
Coming from Jind, Haryana is the son of former national champion wrestler Somvir and has the full backing of his family. “Since childhood I liked guns and rifles. I used to try it with my father. But when I decided to pursue shooting seriously, he was not very sure about it. I am sure he is proud of me now,” he said after his win.
Incidentally, trap shooting was not Lakshay’s first choice of discipline after picking up the sport when he saw his cousin shooting. “He first did air pistol but he didn’t enjoy it. He then shifted to trap and he enjoyed this and made up his mind that this what he wants to do,” Chopra added.
“He has good head on his shoulders and he believes in finishing what he starts. For any kind of athlete, you have to be a finisher.
He doesn’t have the mindset that winning is important, his mindset is that he has to shoot well. And if he shoots well, obviously he will win,” Chopra said.
Mindset is a very important factor in shooting, and the teenager seems to be on the right track on that count. On the range, he was composed and didn’t let much emotion show. But when the competition ended, he broke out in a huge grin and rushed to touch Sandhu’s feet right.
The grin was intact when he came on to the podium to claim his silver and celebrated with an enthusiastic fist-pump and the iconic, medal-biting podium pose.
The teen has one more event in Indonesia, when he plays the mixed team with Commonwealth Games champion Shreyasi Singh on Tuesday. If he can keep the same focus he has maintained in the last two days, he may well go home with another medal.
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