Shooter Dhanush Srikanth, a trainee at London Olympics medallist Gagan Narang’s Gun For Glory Shooting Academy (Hyderabad), put up an impressive performance by winning three gold medals for India at the World Deaf Shooting Championship in Hanover, Germany.
The 22-year-old broke the world record in the men’s 10m air rifle event qualification with a score of 632.7, ahead of fellow Indians Shourya Saini (625) and Mohammed Vania (622.7) who finished in second and third place respectively in the finals.
Dhanush also secured golds in the 10m mixed team event along with Mahit Sandhu and the 10m air rifle men’s team event along with Saini and Vania, while securing world records in both qualification as well as in the finals (628.8).
The gifted shooter was part of the 13-member Indian contingent that had already secured medals in the air pistol category on the opening days, but his performance marked a trend in his domination in international competitions for deaf athletes- having won two golds in the Deaflympics in 2022 in Caxias do Sul, Brazil.
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He also won gold in the men’s 10m air rifle and silver in the men’s 10 air rifle team at the ISSF Junior World Cup in 2023.
Dhanush has been mentored by Gagan since 2015 under trains under coach Neha Chavan and has now 13 international medals to go with over 30 medals in state and national-level competitions.
“My target is to represent India in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,” said a visibly delighted Dhanush.
For his part, Gagan feels that the young shooter has the potential to be one of the medallists in the next Olympics, given the latter’s commitment, passion and the kind of efforts he puts in to keep improving.
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