Aditi Rajeshwari was born and raised in Ankleshwar, Gujarat’s quaint chemical cluster and a city far removed from the hustle and grind of pro sports. Before she even hit her teens, Aditi was travelling half an hour to Bharuch — another small town famous more for its crunchy khari sing (dry roasted, salted peanuts) than pellets and guns — to learn how to shoot.
Now 15, the rifle shooter has been inducted at the Army Marksmanship Unit in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow, one of India’s premier training schools.
By her side has been her elder brother Agam Aditya, one of the top shooters to emerge from Gujarat in recent years. The journey of the siblings — who played chess before pivoting to shooting — from a city bereft of any sporting culture to being on the cusp of bigger things isn’t by chance. It is a testament to shooting’s wide reach, increasing popularity, consistent medals at the world level, and deep penetration into regions where the sport is not even in the general consciousness of the people, let alone an afterthought.
This is reflected in the participation numbers at the national championships over the last five years. In 2019, 8,011 shooters took part in national championships. In 2024, that number swelled to a staggering 13,522. This year, at the ongoing nationals, the number of entries has risen to 16,951 — a rise of over 100% in the last six years.
Agam Aditya, Aditi’s brother is one of the top shooters to emerge from Gujarat in recent years. (Express photo)
This growth is particularly seen in air rifle and air pistol events — due to easy access, low cost and relatively easy licensing norms. And it is driven largely by women shooters.
Although they still are outnumbered by men — according to cumulative figures of the last six years, 43,785 shooters were men and 23,365 women — women’s participation is increasing by over 100% year on year, giving hope that the gap will soon be bridged.
For instance, air pistol — the event in which Manu Bhaker won a medal at the Paris Olympics — recorded a rise of nearly 111%, with numbers rising from 1,033 in 2019 to 2,860 last year. In air rifle, the figures rose from 1,075 to 2,038 for nearly the same period.
It wasn’t always like this.
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Rajiv Bhatia, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) secretary who has been involved in Indian shooting in different capacities since 1982, says, “At national Championships in Chennai back in 1985, there were 450 shooters in rifle and pistol events. At the time, it was considered a record.”
However, the reason behind India now having an army of gun-toting teenage shooters is a series of policy interventions, amendments to gun laws, mushrooming of shooting ranges in all corners of the country and access to quality coaching has turned shooting into India’s fastest growing sport in terms of participation numbers.
To top it all, there are role models for aspiring shooters wherever they look. Like so many others, Aditi said she picked up a rifle after being inspired by Bindra’s 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medal. But it was also former World Cup gold medallist and world record holder Apurvi Chandela’s exploits that further motivated her to pursue a career in the sport. “When you have a steady stream of champion shooters, it helps in attracting the newer generation,” NRAI’s Bhatia says.
Pawan Singh, the secretary-general of the NRAI, said the initial wave was created after a hat-trick of Olympic medals from 2004 to 2012, beginning with Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s silver in Athens, Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal in 2008, and Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar’s bronze and silver in London.
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“Suddenly, you had schools and colleges giving extra marks to state-level competitors,” Pawan says. “So, parents were more willing to send their children for shooting.”
Amendments to gun laws
Bhatia points out the other key reason for the spurt — the evolving gun laws. Three amendments in the last 18 years have contributed to the ease of shooting: the liberalisation of the import of air weapons in 2007, the policy change in import permits of firearms in 2012 and the amendment that brought down the age limit for handling weapons from 16 to 12 in 2016.
Indian shooting’s ‘1991 moment’ — the year when the country’s economy was liberalised — came in 2012, with profound changes in the import permit rules. It is when the true potential was unshackled with a mere tweak of the law.
Before that, Bhatia said the process to procure an import permit was tedious and would take nearly a year. It would start with the shooter making a request to the NRAI, which would then submit that proposal to the Sports Authority of India (SAI). The SAI would take it up with the Sports Ministry, which would forward it to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). The DGFT would then approach its regional centre, before the permit would be issued.
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“So it used to take almost one year to get the import permits. Suppose there was a mistake — like some comma or full stop was missing — the Customs officer will reject it until you get the permit amended. Not only would a shooter have to repeat the entire procedure, but they would also end up paying an amount equal to the cost of the weapon for this process itself,” adds Bhatia.
He credited former NRAI president Raninder Singh for using “all his connections and working tirelessly for liberalising the firearms policy”. Bhatia says, “After 2012, it has become so easy to get the import permit. Shooters apply directly to the NRAI, we issue an import permit in 10-15 days and you can import the weapon. What took one year, now takes one month in most cases. In the case of air weapons, no import permit is needed. If you are a member of a rifle club, you can procure it.”
Pawan says efforts were made to promote the sport as a way to improve ‘focus and concentration’ rather than the general perception that guns and bullets would carry. “Parents come to us not because they want to make their children Olympic champions, but so that their focus improves,” he says.
Along with liberalisation, it helped that the greats of the game became mentors for the next generation. There are quality coaches even in far-flung places, as Agam and Aditi would discover.
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When they chose to pursue a career in shooting, the siblings stumbled upon a former national-level medallist Mittal Gohil, who was a coach at an academy in Bharuch. Gohil gave them a platform and now they are going places. “I want to be in the Indian team,” Aditi says. “Reach the top-five or top-three in the country, and then take it from there.”
