India made history at the Gold Coast Commonwealth games, by bringing in a young, enthusiastic and energised squad to face world competition. Youngsters as young as 15 years, made India proud by not just shining on the world scene but also by winning gold and other medals.
This is reflective of the progress India has made in the sports arena.
Let’s look at some of these talented stalwarts in detail –
Anish Bhanwala
Anish became India’s youngest medallist at the Commonwealth Games on Friday after winning gold in men’s 25m rapid fire pistol shooting.
Born in Karnal Haryana, Anish stormed into the scene with a successful season in 2017. At the Junior World Shooting championship in Shul, he won two golds, two silvers and a bronze medal. In Australia, he created a new world record by clinching the 25-metre standard pistol gold.
His sister, Muskan, is also a part of the Indian shooting contingent. Both of them train under national head coach Jaspal Rana.
Interestingly, even after competing at the ISSF World Cup in Mexico, he came back to take his CBSE exams this year. This is reflective of the dedication that he has for his game as well as his studies.
Anish had earlier dreamt of making his mark in modern pentathlon, but destiny had other plans for him. After winning gold at the Junior World Cup in Sydney, he made history in Gold Coast.
Manu Bhaker
Another 15-year-old created waves at the prestigious sporting event. Manu, who set a Games record both in the qualification round and the final of the women’s 10m air pistol, beat her senior compatriot Heena Sidhu to the top place on the podium.
Also a Haryana prodigy, Bhaker was born in Goria village near Jhajjar. Her father, Ram Kishan Bhaker, works as a chief engineer in the Merchant Navy. Always been a sports talent, she has won medals at national level for Huyen langlon, a Manipuri martial art, as well as boxing, tennis and skating.
Mehuli Ghosh
17 year old Mehuli Ghosh is a junior shooting sports athlete and represents India at international junior shooting championships across the world. Among 123 competitors, she was the only Indian shooting athlete to reach the finals of junior shooting competition held in the Czech Republic and finished at the seventh place there. In 2018, at the XXI Commonwealth Games held at Gold Coast, she won the Silver medal in Women’s 10m Air Rifle. Currently she is World Ranked No. 6 and Asian Ranked No. 3 Shooter.
Deepak Lather
All of 18, Deepak picked up a bronze in the men’s 69 kg weight class at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Apart from sports, he is also pursuing Business administration and Management at PDM University, Bahadurgarh, India. He is the youngest person to hold a Indian national record in weightlifting. Deepak is also a Naib Subedar in Bombay Sappers in the Indian Army.
Its only when one sees dedicated players such as these come forward and make India proud, do we realise that we are on the track of development and growth. These youngsters are motivation for scores of kids across the country who pursue such dreams.
What we need is enough facilities and avenues for them to come forward and culminate their dreams into achievable goals.