Paris Olympics: Rajasthan’s Maheshwari Chauhan, Anant Naruka finish fourth in skeet event

A shooter, who started shooting after looking at the guns of her landlord grandfather and father, and another shooter from a royal family in Rajasthan teamed together to finish in fourth place for India in the mixed team skeet event after a loss to China at the Chateauroux range in Paris Olympics on Monday evening. While 28-year-old Maheshwari Chauhan’s shooting journey began in Siana village in south-west Rajasthan, 26-year-old Anant Naruka’s shooting journey began in the royal village of Uniara in Rajasthan and the duo ensured a creditable fourth-placed finish, India’s third after Arjun Babuta (10m Men’s Air rifle) and Manu Bhaker (Women’s 25m pistol) in this Olympics for India.

“We are a family of landlords in Siana village in Rajasthan and like other landlords, me and my father Ganpat Singh were fond of shotguns. A young Maheshwari too would see us shooting and that’s how her shooting journey started. Tracking a moving target and shooting that fascinated her right from the beginning and I remember a young Maheshwari telling me, “Papa, look I have shot the clay target,” said Pradeep Singh Chauhan, father of Maheshwari Chauhan, while speaking with The Indian Express from Siana.

If accompanying her grandfather Ganpat Singh Chauhan, a gun collector and a double trap shooter, to the skeet range built by Chauhan senior started Maheshwari’s interest in shooting, a young Naruka would often hear the shooting tales of his grandfather Rao Raja Rajendra Singh of the royal seat of Uniara in Tonk district in Rajasthan. Naruka also accompanied his father Rao Raja Dalpat Singh Naruka to shooting competitions in nearby villages before his father decided to train him at Jaipur. A senior national appearance in 2015 was followed by a maiden appearance in Junior World Championships in Grenada, Spain apart from a silver medal in Junior Asian Championships the same year for Naruka. “Anant would often spend time with me understanding about the various parts of the big nore guns owned by our family. Initially, he started shooting with my shotgun before he asked us to get a new one for him. We would travel daily from Uniara to Jaipur as there was no shooting range nearby. There were days when we would start early from the village and reach back home late in the evening but Anant took it with ease. Late at night, we would be reading books about guns before he would get ready the next morning early to start the trio to Jaipur,” says Naruka’s father Rao Raja Dalpat Singh Naruka.

What an incredibly close match to decide the Bronze Medal in the Skeet Mixed Team event. A 1 point difference meaning our 🇮🇳 duo of Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan finish 4th. Spirited performance 👏🏽👏🏽#JeetKiAur | #Cheer4Bharat pic.twitter.com/cLCd22Spw7

— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) August 5, 2024

For Chauhan, the loss of her grandfather in 2012 meant that she wanted to take up shooting as a career and after starting as a trap shooter, took up skeet, the more complex of the two. A student of Mayo Girls School, Ajmer, Chauhan would spend her summer vacations under coah Amardeep Singh Rai with a Beretta 686 of her father before she got her own Beretta 686 in 2013. The same year, Chahaun would return with a top-20 finish in the ISSF World Cup in Mexico apart from a tenth place finish in Asian Championships in 2016. A bronze in the Asian Championships following year saw Chauhan cementing her place in the senior national team over the next few years. “When she started shotgun shooting in 2012, her height was almost that of the shotgun (Laughs). But then she would tell us that that’s what she wants to do her whole life. Her mother Hemant Chauhan would sit for hours with Maheshwari at the range and was never worried about her daughter shooting with such a big gun. We made some changes in the stock of the rifle to add more balance so that the shotgun does not fall. In her first nationals, she shot a series of 18 out of 25 and she would be happy about the fact that she completed the round,” remembers Chauhan senior.

With the Italians dominating the skeet world, both Chauhan and Naruka too have been spending time under Italian coaches since long. While training under coaches Pietro Genga and 1996 Olympics champion Ennio Falco in Italy for Naruka, Chauhan too spent her time training under Italian coach Ricardo Filipelli at Aritzo. The Rajasthan shooter trained along with the likes of Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Diana Bocosi in Italy and coach Filipelli had talked about the time spent in Italy for Chauhan. “In Italy, we worked a lot on the movement of the gun at the start apart from getting Maheshwari in her comfortable zone, be it mentally as well the conditions. The Italians dominate skeet shooting and one of the major factors is that they see this as fun. That’s what we wanted Maheshwari to understand and that’s what she has done. Training along with somebody like Bocosi helped her to follow what they do from close and imbibe the vibe as well” coach Ricardo Filipelli had told The Indian Express earlier.

Naruka had also shared with this paper about his experience of training in Italy. “When I decided to train under Genga and Falco, I knew that my task would not be easier. Both have been experienced shooters in skeet with Falco being the 1996 Olympics champion. Staying for most of the time at the ranges in Capua and Taranto in Southern Italy, we would often spend time watching shooters like 2016 olympic champion Gabriele Rossetti and others and would also note down our observations. Both the coaches told us to develop our own shooting style and that is what I always follow,” Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist Naruka had shared with The Indian Express.

Chauhan had got married last February to Adhiraj Singh Rathore, a hotelier from Rajsamand near Udaipur and the Rathore family too got Chauhan made a range at their village. “Her father-in-law Raghvendra Singh Rathore along with her husband have been too supportive and got her all what she required to shoot with a free mind,” says Chauhan senior.

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