Mihir Vasavda at Asian Games: In India’s first medal in women’s skeet, daughters of a fisherman, dry-cleaner & a royal | Asian-games News

THE TRAP shooting podium on Sunday demonstrated sports’ unique ability of being a great leveler.At the centre was the daughter of a humble fisherman who developed the patience and synchronization to shoot down flying targets living a piscatory life. To her right was the daughter of the scion of Patiala royal family. And on the left was the daughter of a dry-cleaner from Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh who is one of the youngest women’s shooting recruits in the Army.
In Hangzhou, their different worlds came together.
Manisha Keer, Rajeshwari Kumari, and Preeti Rajak teamed up to win India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in women’s skeet, a silver. It was one of the three medals India won on the ranges of the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre, along with a men’s team trap gold and Kynan Chenai’s individual trap bronze.

Standing tall on the podium with gleaming 🥈 🤩
Our Indian Women’s Trap-50 team makes the nation proud at the #AsianGames 🇮🇳 💙#SonySportsNetwork #Cheer4India #Hangzhou2022 #IssBaar100Paar | @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/DWRqcDDJ4g
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) October 1, 2023
And also, the one they very nearly missed.
Due to reasons not made public, Rajak and Keer were not initially named in the Asiad squad. Then, just days before the opening ceremony, their names were included, once again without any explanation.
The reasons for the selection flip-flop might not have been officially revealed but the shooter’s proved their naysayers wrong with the medal.
Especially Keer, who shot down each of the 25 targets in the fourth series to propel India towards the podium. The 24-year-old was also the only Indian to reach the final, but exited in sixth place.
But with the final appearance and a team silver, Keer achieved a lot more. In shotgun shooting, considered a sport of the royalty, she’s a commoner fighting for her place.

A prodigy of Indian shooting legend Mansher Singh, Keer’s initiation to shooting was accidental. As a child, she used to accompany her father to catch and sell fishes. A chance meeting with Mansher changed her life forever.
An Olympian and Arjuna Awardee, Mansher has been on a mission to make the sport more accessible to those from lesser privileged backgrounds. During a trial in Bhopal for the MP State Academy, he saw Keer standing idly in a corner and offered her an opportunity to shoot. From that moment on, Keer hasn’t looked back, transforming into one of India’s finest women shotgun shooters.
Like Keer, 20-year-old Rajak, too, is a product of the MP State Academy who later went on to become one of the youngest women shooters at Mhow-based Army Sports Institute.
Meanwhile, for 31-year-old Rajeshwari, who recently also earned a quota for the Paris Olympics, shooting was the most natural thing to have happened.
Born into a family of athletes and shooters, her father Randhir, whose uncle Yadavindra Singh was the last Maharaja of Patiala, represented the country at five consecutive Olympics between 1968 and 1984.
“She took it up naturally,” says Randhir, the acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia. “She didn’t quite like the sound of the cartridges initially, she never liked loud sounds. Suddenly, though, she started shooting. The legacy is very old – from my great grandfather, grandfather, uncle, me and now down to Rajeshwari. She works much harder than I did.”

For Randhir, the medal was special not just because it was his daughter who won. On the podium, hory too repeated itself.Most Read
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When he won the gold medal at the 1982 Asian Games, Randhir got the medal from his father, Bhalindra Singh, who was the president of the Asian Games Federation. On Sunday, it was Randhir who presented the silver medal to his daughter.
“So hory is repeating itself and the legacy for the family in the sport continues,” Randhir says.
And while Rajeshwari carries on her family’s legacy, her teammates continue to chart their own path.