Hyderabad's shooting sensation Deesawala targets Junior World Cup

Zahra Mufaddal Deesawala, who bagged the silver medal in skeet team event of the International Junior Shotgun Cup in Finland, is focused on doing well at the upcoming Junior World Cup

Zahra Mufaddal Deesawala recently won the silver medal in junior and women team categories in the national shooting championships in December.

For 15-year-old Zahra Mufaddal Deesawala, it was a dream debut in an international event when she picked a silver in the team event in skeet of 11th International Junior Shotgun Cup in Orimattila (Finland) last week.

The other members of the team were Parinaaz Dhaliwal (Punjab) and Areeba Khan (Uttar Pradesh).

After her scintillating first outing, Zahra is now gunning for more laurels at the highest level under the tutelage of her coach Shreyan Kapoor at the SATS Shooting Ranges in the Central University campus in Hyderabad.

“It has been a truly memorable debut for me and I am glad that I could give off my best in demanding conditions,” says the young shooter in a chat with Sportstar .

Zahra got hooked to the sport at a very young age looking at her sister Fatema and started her journey in the sport since 2017. In December 2018, the sisters bagged four medals at the national shooting championship held in Jaipur.

“The bronze in the 2018 Nationals in skeet was just the kind of encouragement I was looking for and since then there has been a definite urge to keep improving with each event,” says the Nasr School student.

“The focus now shifts to Junior World Cup next month (which will also feature another talent from the state Ayush Rudraraju who won the gold in Finland last week),” says Zahra.

The young shooter believes that her strong points are the ability to focus, shut herself from the rest of the world once she is there in the range.

“For, I feel this is the best way to realise your goals or else even if you have the best of technique you might still falter for want of concentration,” she says.