Trap shooting has a history of more than a 100 years and is an official Olympic sport. The ammunition used by a Trap shooter is a cartridge containing gun powder and 24 grams of leadshot (pellets) hence known as shotgun.. This is aimed at a randomly thrown clay target, unlike in rifle and pistol shooting where the targets are stationery.

In trap shooting, a shooter has 2 shots from 5 different stations to break a target that’s thrown out of a bunker placed 15 meters ahead, from 15 different machines. In total, one shooter shoots at 25 randomly thrown targets, one at a time. The only exception to using two shots is either during a shoot-off where the scores are tied or during the finals, where only 1 shot is permitted at a time.

In trap and skeet shooting, the shooter has a split second to judge how fast the target is moving, in which direction, bring his/ her gun in line with target, calculate lead and consider weather conditions in that instant and shoot. Any delay will, most likely, lead to a missed target. Therefore, in this sport, a calm and focused mind is highly important.

Safety is paramount and is built into the entire structure of the sport, from basic weapon handling and into the state of play. India, itself, has some of the toughest gun ownership rules in the world, making this a truly safe sport.

I’m 40 years old. Some might say it’s too old to get into professional sport. Perhaps, but I would argue, true for most sports but not trap shooting. In fact, I believe that maturity plays an important factor in trap shooting and that it takes time to understand the level of commitment required.

I started trap shooting 2 years ago. I had been a member of the Chennai Rifle Club for many years. I always knew of the trap & skeet range of the Chennai Rifle Club located in Alamadhi and had planned to go there for years but since it was an hour out of town, it was only 2 years ago that I made the trip out there.

In February of 2018, my father and I decided to set out and visit the trap range. It was then that I truly fell in love with the sport. Mr. D.V.Seetharama Rao, the Secretary General of the National Rifle Association of India, had just become the Joint Secretary of the Indian Olympic Association at the time and helped me to learn the rules of trap & double trap shooting, most importantly, safety and conduct when using a competitive weapon.

Within 4 months of shooting trap, I entered the State Championship in Pudukkotai and won the Bronze Medal in Trap and Gold in Double Trap.

The next step was the South Zone Shotgun Shooting Championship. It is a week-long competition held in Hyderabad and is specially for competitors from Southern States.

I won the Bronze medal in October of 2018 in Double Trap and qualified for the National Shotgun Shooting Championship in Trap and Double Trap in Jaipur. I was lucky enough to receive coaching from Anwer Sultan, a former Olympian, Asian games gold medalist and Arjuna awardee, which helped me fine tune my technique prior to the National Championship.

With the help of Mr. Anwer Sultan and the well-timed advice Mr. D.V. Seetharama Rao I attended the National Shotgun Shooting Championship at Jaipur in November of 2018, where I received the highly coveted Minimum Qualifying Score or MQS, which brings with it a whole host of benefits and rewards.