Hyderabad: Telangana's Srikanth Dhanush has won three gold medals in 10m air rifle men junior event of the 14th Asian Shooting Championship in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday.

In the very first international event, the 17-year-old sensation bagged gold in mixed team, individual and in a team. He was the second shooter from the State after Esha Singh, who had shot three gold medals in the junior women air pistol event.

According to reports, Dhanush took to shooting just a year ago. Dhanush began his gold medal hunt by winning the mixed team event with Shreya Agarwal on Monday night. Dhanush and Shreya defeated the Chinese duo Wang Zeru and Jiang Xuanle. On Tuesday, Dhanush bagged gold in the individual championship.

As per reports, before switching to shooting Dhanush was a second Dan black karate belt and had won many gold medals at district levels in it. Because of his hearing impairment, he had to leave his karate field.

Luckily, Dhanush has a fascination for shooting since his childhood.

"Dhanush would take toy guns and shoot with gay abandon. Since it was not possible for him to continue in karate, we thought shooting was the best alternative sport as he had a liking to this sport also. Luckily, Gagan Narang’s Gun For Glory Academy was close to our house in Trimulgherry Village,’’ father Srikanth, who works in Bahrain said to a daily.

Initially, everybody in the academy doubted about Dhanush's ability to excel in shooting. But with the positive encouragement with coach Neha Chavan, Dhanush began to shoot perfectly which surprised the coaches at the academy. London Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang said he was amazed by Dhanush’s passion and talent for shooting.

“He sleeps with the gun and never allows anyone to touch the gun,’’ Mother Asha said to the daily speaking about how shooting has become passion for Dhanush.

According to reports, Gagan is preparing Dhanush for the 2024 Olympics. Dhanush had also made a big statement that he is ready for bigger international events.
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