Bhopal electrician’s daughter bags gold in national shooting championship

BHOPAL: Monday turned out to be a day of double delight for daughter of an electrician, pistol shooter from Bhopal Chinki Yadav, who won the 25m pistol gold medal in the national selection trails and team silver in the national shooting championship. Two other female shooters from MP also won medals in the 19th Surendra Singh memorial shooting championship in Delhi.
Jabalpur’s Gun for Glory rifle shooter Shreya Agarwal and pistol shooter Mahima Agarwal also won medals in the championship. Shreya won the team bronze in the 10m senior rifle category and an individual bronze in the 10m rifle junior category. Mahima teaming with Chinki won silver medal in the senior women 25m pistol category.
In the national selection trial, Chinki shot a score of 32 in the final to win gold while Neeraj Kaur of the BSF shot 30 for silver and Annu Raj Singh of Air India shot 27 for bronze. Chinki came to limelight in 2017 after winning team bronze in junior world championship. This year she is again in the form after winning gold medal in the national selection trails along with silver medal in the national championship. She is a shooter of shooting academy run by the sports department.
Chinki’s father Mehtab Singh Yadav has been associated with the sports department for the past 23 years. Recalling the day when Chinki had joined the shooting academy in 2012, Yadav said, “As my home is inside the stadium Chinki used to see others playing different games. She wanted to join summer camp. I didn’t know that decision was the making of a star in my family.” After joining the academy, Chinki soon started attracting eyeballs of coaches. “She was among few shooters selected after talent hunt for the shooting academy. She later took part in the national championship and won the medal,” said Yadav.
Chinki has been a regular member of the Indian shooting squad in the junior category for past four years. “Most of her time is spent at the shooting academy. She is a day-boarder,” added Yadav. Chinki’s inspiring performance encouraged Yadav to admit his younger son in the academy. “He was admitted last year in the academy, and now is a promising shooter of the academy,” said Yadav.
Giving credit to sports department, Yadav said, “Shooting is such a costly game that it was not possible for me to bear the expenses of buying guns and ammunition from my pocket. My family owes a lot to the sports department.” Director sports S L Thaosen said Chinki has potential to achieve even higher goals.