Trap Shooting – A Journey Of Hits and Misses
After a lot of hits and misses, Yuvraj Singh Lamba came up with flying colours in Trap Shooting.
Here is his journey in his own words:
I Used to play football in the Under-14 Haryana Team.
We played the Subroto Cup and lost in the qualifiers. Since then, I have been averse to team sports, so I searched for something more individualistic.
My father was a 50m rifle shooter. He encouraged me to play this sport, to compete with myself and forget the world. I decided to give it a shot and see what happens next and how it went. Since then, it’s been a journey of revelations and working from one milestone to another.
In 2018, I was representing India in the International Junior Shotgun Cup in Finland. There, I came in 3rd place and won my first international medal – a bronze.
I was proud to achieve something for my country. The happiness and fulfilment that I felt in that moment was unlike any other, and soon, a fire began to smoulder in me. A yearning to turn this into my career.
This also changed my perspective towards the sport. Where earlier I would study and shoot for fun, now the roles were reversed, and all my energies went towards shooting.
I believe when you start something, you should be consistent and not quit even when your mind is filled with negative thoughts. This mantra kept me going even when the chips were down.
I started shooting at the age of 14years. I got into 50m rifle shooting for a year and was then introduced to 300m rifle shooting which was considered the longest range to shoot in India. I was a two-time national medallist in 300m rifle shooting in the junior category. I was keen on taking part in double trap shooting as it is a more spectator friendly sport than rifle shooting.
However, the category of double trap was removed from the Olympics and I had to start from the scratch in Trap Shooting.
I took a year off from law college as I shifted from double trap to trap, and eventually, I started to like trap shooting too as it was more challenging and competitive.
That one year of break was the start of my career in shooting, as I completely focused on the game and had nothing else to worry about.
I did my training in multiple cities, ranging from Patna to Delhi to Jaipur. That year taught me a lot was essential in my development as an athlete, and also as a person.
Now, my aim is to represent India in the Olympics, and I am practicing for the same.
Quote:
“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
– Henry Ford (Quote)