Nagoya, Sep 23 (PTI) Olympian Maheshwari Chauhan believes India’s historic women’s skeet bronze at the Asian Games here could be the beginning of a much bigger surge for a discipline that is finally finding depth, quality and, importantly, a younger generation of shooters.
India had never won a women’s skeet medal at the Asian Games before Wednesday, when Maheshwari, Raiza Dhillon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal combined for a score of 331 to claim bronze.
For Maheshwari, however, the significance of the medal extends well beyond the podium. The 30-year-old believes the growing number of young shotgun shooters, coupled with better technical, nutritional and psychological preparation, has changed the foundations of the sport in India — and that the results are only beginning to show.
“I’m a little disappointed about it (team medal) not being a better colour, but it’s better to have finished on the podium,” Maheshwari said.
“It’s the first medal for the skeet women at Asian Games ever.”
The historic nature of the achievement was not lost on her, but neither was the sense that India could have done more. The trio had arrived in good form, with Maheshwari and Raiza both Olympians, while Parinaaz has emerged as one of the younger names in the country’s shotgun set-up.
“I think we’re in great form,” Maheshwari said. “I’m really hoping that we’ll go with a few more medals (from the Asian Games in men’s and women’s trap shooting). I think it’s just a stepping stone for better podium finishes and better opportunities for better competition.”
That optimism comes from what Maheshwari sees as a fundamental shift in Indian shotgun shooting.
For several years, rifle and pistol have dominated India’s shooting story, fuelled by a deeper domestic pool and a steady stream of international success. Shotgun, particularly on the women’s side, has struggled to produce the same depth.
Maheshwari believes the gap is now beginning to close.
“I genuinely feel like that’s been the reason because we just didn’t have enough high-performing athletes and enough female athletes to begin with,” she said. “And the level of competition that rifle has at a domestic level is unmatched.”
She is quick to point out that there is little value in comparing rifle and shotgun directly, given how different the disciplines are. But she sees something encouraging in the age and quality of the current shotgun pool.
“The shotgun crowd today is much younger and all of them are at a much higher technical quality and level,” she said. “I do feel like you’re going to see a lot more of shotgun doing better overall.”
For Maheshwari, the biggest change has happened before shooters even reach the international stage.
She has been involved in the sport for around a decade and says the environment in which young shooters are developing today is vastly different from the one she encountered when she began.
““The biggest advantage is just the level that the Indians are now starting their training at,” she said. “I remember back when I started, the domestic level was not at a great level. We didn’t have the right kind of technical training, nutritional training, psychological training.”
That stronger foundation, she believes, is shortening the time it takes for young shooters to reach a high international standard.
“You can see people having record scores and podium finishes in the last year, which in, let’s say, the last decade would have taken someone seven to 10 years to have the same performances,” she said.
The improvement is not merely about better scores. Maheshwari points to the broader sporting ecosystem — from training programmes and support systems to infrastructure — as a reason why the next generation is arriving better prepared.
“The base, that foundational base, which has been established now. You can see people having record scores and podium finishes,” she said. “Because that domestic level has become good, people have a stronger foundation.”
And having seen the transformation from close quarters, Maheshwari is perhaps more convinced than most about the scale of the change.
“The results are better and they’re only going to get better. The schemes are better. The entire infrastructure for sports is better in India,” she said. “I’ve been in the game for 10 years now. And for me, it’s night and day.”
Her only regret is that she did not get to enter the sport in the current environment.
“I feel jealous that I wish I was starting out now and the opportunities were like that,” she said.
Her own season is now over after she missed selection for the World Championships. She plans to take a short break before beginning the next Olympic cycle with the domestic season in December.
But she leaves the Asian Games believing the bigger journey has only just begun.
“It’s definitely like onwards and upwards.” PTI AM AM
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