Shooter Palak Gulia’s journey from reluctant young shooter to Asian Games gold winner | Asian-games News

In a sport that demands stillness, Palak Gulia had to slow down before she could race ahead in the fast lane.The shooter, only 17 and who started shooting seriously just a couple of years ago, led India to an unexpected gold-silver finish in an event where the Chinese were tipped to dominate.
She shared the podium on Friday with her roommate at the Athletes’ Village, Esha Singh, who returns home with a cool four-medal haul herself.
Together, Palak and Esha have feasted on the KFCs available freely at the Village and the make-your-own ramen bowls over the last week. But a couple of days before her 10m air pol event, Palak slipped into competition mode.

Esha Singh – 4⃣Palak Gulia – 2⃣
Just the number of medals these two girls have added to #TeamIndia‘s tally 🙌
Humare athletes hai zidd pe sawar, iss baar medals 💯 paar 🇮🇳#SonySportsNetwork #Cheer4India #PalakGulia #EshaSingh #Hangzhou2022 #IssBaar100Paar | @singhesha10… pic.twitter.com/B3hT1h1goL
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) September 29, 2023
“It starts with a proper eight-hour sleep, that’s vital,” she says. “Then, ensure you do not rush. Even if you are walking, take it slow. You need to keep your heartbeat calm.”
Even on the firing line, when she set the pulses racing, Palak – whose ascent has been nothing short of dramatic – remained calm. Even after her first shot in the final – a wayward 9.1.
“After that, I was a bit nervous. I was like, ‘What did I hit!’ But I told myself, ‘This is the first shot. You have 23 more to go. You can’t let one bad shot impact the others’,” Palak says. “With that in mind, I started again.”
And it ended with a gold medal.
Esha, Palak and Divya also won the country a team silver in the event.
Reluctant start
Coach Rakesh Singh still remembers the time when a young Palak would often carry her books to training at his shooting academy in Faridabad. The Haryana youngster, whose family belongs to Nimana village in Jhajjar drict.
Silver medals India’s Divya Thadigol Subbraju, Esha Singh, Palak pose with their medals at the awards ceremony for the Shooting 10m Air Pol Team Women’s Final of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
“Initially when Palak came to train at the academy, she saw it as a hob only. It’s a thing with all the young shooters, who focus on their studies. Coaching her for a few weeks made me realise that she has a very sharp and had a focused mind. Today, she has shown that to the world what she is capable of,” Rakesh Singh told The Indian Express from Faridabad.
With her father Joginder Singh being a businessman, Palak, who is the eldest child of her family with younger twin brother-ser, Jivesh and Jahnvi, went to Singh’s shooting range on the insence of her father. Singh wanted his daughter to be a shooter and since coach Singh only trained in pol shooting, the Haryana youngster opted for the same.

Father Joginder Singh Gulia, who runs a construction business and has now shifted to Faridabad from Gurgaon to support Palak’s training, remembers Palak’s early days in shooting. “I wanted her to pursue a sport which does not depend on other factors and only on her performance. Initially she would attempt to strike a balance between shooting and her studies. She would sleep at 2 am at night to study extra to adjust to her shooting schedule,” says father Joginder Singh Gulia.
With coach Singh running academies in near Ballabgarh and Faridabad, Palak would travel to Ballabgarh and later Faridabad to train under him.
“As a 13-year-old kid, she had that kind of focus which set her apart from other trainees. Slowly we worked upon her aiming and also the right wr position. She would shoot 60-70 shots only in 60-90 minutes and then head off to her studies. Her force on the grip and the arm position was almost perfect,” says the coach.
In the 2021 national shooting championship, Palak finished sixth in the women’s 10m Air Pol qualification apart from finishing fourth in the junior event. She missed the junior final due to a malfunction.
Indian shooter Palak competes in the finals of Women’s 10m Air Pol (Individual) event at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. (PTI Photo)
Last year, the youngster won the gold medal in the ISSF Junior Cup in Suhl apart from finishing 50th in the women’s 10m Air Pol event in the World Championships in Cairo. She then won the title in the Khelo India games this year apart from 41st place finish in the ISSF World Championship in Baku this year.
“Palak suffered a shoulder injury last year and it meant that she reduced her training. Once she recovered and with the medals coming at the national and team events at the international level, we increased her training to 200-250 shots per day. With time, she has found the same passion in shooting as her studies and that has helped her a lot,” says Singh.
Concentration on self
On Friday morning, the youngster finished seventh in the qualification to qualify for the eight-shooter final. In the final, the Haryana shooter was placed third after the first series with a score of 49.9 with two shots below ten in the five shot series.Most Read
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The 17-year-old then recovered in the second series shooting a score of 50.8 and climbing to second place, trailing the leader, Esha Singh, 1.3 points. The elimination stage saw Palak leaping into the lead and the Haryana shooter maintained that till the end, edging Singh 2.4 points and making a new games record of 242.1 points.

“Be it qualification or final, whenever Palak shoots, her focus is always on her scores and not what others are doing. It helps her maintain her calm and that’s what she displayed today. Having shot two low 9’s in the first series, she recovered in the second series and once she was in the lead, I am sure she must have only thought about maintaining that lead and not what others shoot,” says coach Singh.
At their Faridabad home, mother Neelam Gulia and twins Jivesh and Jahnvi too are waiting eagerly for Palak to return home. “She only has boiled food without any oil while at home. Perhaps, she will have one or two cheat days after winning this gold medal. She also likes to sketch in her free time and will return with some sketches of China for the twins,” says mother Neelam.