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At 18, Aashima Ahlawat picked up a pistol before finding her calling in shotgun, a switch that came only after she held up her end of a deal with her mother, scoring well enough to get into her dream college. She delivered, with a 98.6% in her Class 12 board exams, proof that the range never came at the cost of the books. Four years on, the 22-year-old from Rohtak, Haryana, is set to make her maiden Asian Games appearance in Aichi Nagoya.
Her path to the sport wasn't a straight line. Coming from a business family rooted in construction, it was watching the 2018 Commonwealth Games that truly pulled her toward shooting. "Seeing Manu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu on that stage, I remember thinking, I want to feel that someday," Ahlawat said, as per a press release, reflecting on the moment that set her on the road to shooting. That road has asked for sacrifice from more than just her. "My mother did not just give me permission, she gave up a lot for it," she said. "She moved from Rohtak to Delhi, shifted our family business, just so I could train properly. That's not something I take lightly," added the shooter. Her early years were not easy. It took nearly eight months just to get her first shotgun and ammunition sorted. "A medal is not the only thing that tells you how far you have come," she said. "If something does not go right, I look for the mistake, fix it, and come back stronger." This mindset was tested at the 2024 World Championships in Peru, her last junior year, when a miscalculation cost her the final target and dropped her to fourth. Weeks later, she bounced back with a bronze and a personal best at the World University Championships in Delhi. Her steady climb, she says, has a lot to do with the National Rifle Association of India. "NRAI has made things so much easier for shooters like me, the camps, the competitions, even something as basic as steady access to ammunition," she said. "People outside the sport do not realise it, but it changes everything. The exposure I have got through NRAI camps these last two years, I do not think I would have grown this fast without it," she added. On handling the mental side of a sport that looks simple from the outside but rarely is, Ahlawat, an admitted overthinker, has found her own quiet way through. "I focus on my breathing, and honestly, I just play a random song on loop in my head at the station," she said. "It's my way of feeling calm and safe in a moment which is otherwise so lonely." With Aichi Nagoya now on the horizon, Ahlawat is keeping her approach simple. "My plan is target by target. I don't want to think about the medal the whole time, I just want to stay present and enjoy the process," she said. Looking ahead, her ambitions are clear. "The next big goal for me is to make the team again, earn an Olympic quota, and give my best at the Olympics. That is the dream I am chasing now." (ANI)
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