All smiles: Yugan and Nilaa had gained the mixed trap staff silver medal in Khelo India.
| Photo Credit: Akhila Easwaran
Two proficient children, aged 12 and 15, took the Sivanthi Adithyan Trap & Skeet Shooting Range at Alamadi by storm. Playing in their first Khelo India Youth (U-18) Games (KIYG) in Chennai, the pair missed the gold by simply two factors to accept silver in the mixed trap occasion.
Cousins Nilaa Rajaa Baalu and S.M. Yugan bonded nicely and apparently competed with themselves to bag the prestigious silver at the Games.
“More than competing with others, we loved competing with ourselves. We always wanted to outscore ourselves. Even while practising we had fun competing with ourselves as to who would score more. That was one of the reasons for our good performance,” mentioned Nilaa.
While the Nilaa-Yugan trap taking pictures pair scored 125 out of 150 the Rajasthan duo of Vinay Pratap Singh and Aishwari Choudhary produced 127 to clinch gold.
Nilaa, an Intenational, and Yugan began their coaching for KIYG in early January. While largely they skilled in Almadi, in addition they every time the two had time practised in Pudukottai, Coimbatore, and Chennai. “We ensured that every weekend we train together,” mentioned Yugan, who hails from Coimbatore and was the youngest to win a medal at KIYG.
Nilaa was all reward for the organisers of KIYG. She mentioned this was the first time a National taking pictures occasion for shotgun was held in Chennai as each time it was held in both Delhi, Patiala or Bhopal. “Shooting event was conducted very well. We are used to taking part in shotgun events in North India. We were wondering how it will be conducted here. It was organised excellently,” mentioned Nilaa.
Next, Nilaa is aiming for a hat-trick of gold in the National junior girls’s shotgun championships this yr and Yugan is eager to qualify for the forthcoming Junior World Cup.
Hard-working and targeted, the two trap shooters from Tamil Nadu are greater than eager to win medals for India at the International occasions.
