She picked Beretta 682, one of the shotguns that adorned her gun-enthusiast grandfather’s vast collection. She was only 12 at that time. Her grandfather Ganpat Singh had a shooting range in their village, Siana, Rajasthan. She looked at shooting as a fun, relaxation. She used to spend time in the shooting range mainly during her summer vacation.

That 12-year-old girl, Maheswari Chauhan, 27-year-old now, has turned to the country's one of the hopes in the forthcoming Paris Olympics.

She won an Olympics quota after finishing second in the final of Olympic qualification tournament in Doha last week. Her quota meant that for the first time at the Olympics, India could have two women competing in skeet shooting. It also extended India’s record as the country will now have 21 shooters aiming for glory at the Games, which will be held from July 26 to August 11.

The silver medal at the qualifying tournament in Doha saw Chauhan rising to the joint top spot with 11 points along with Dhillon, followed by Ganemat Sekhon at the third spot with nine points in the federation’s selection merit list for Paris. Chauhan initially tried her hands at trap shooting but a year later, she shifted to skeet, a more complex and technical event as compared to the trap and double trap.

While speaking to The Indian Express Chauhan explained, “One thing that made shooting natural to me was that I did not have any pressure. I just saw shotgun shooting as something to relax and saw it as fun. Yes, it took some time to adjust to the physical side of the sport with the gun recoil and impact as a 12-year-old but then I would only train for 2-3 months during school vacations.” 

Once she got the hang of the shotgun, she trained under then-national skeet champion Amardeep Rai and later with national coach and Olympic champion Ennio Falco, ‘who helped me with the technicalities of skeet,’ added Chauhan. 

A top-20 finish in the ISSF World Cup in Mexico in 2013 was followed by a top-ten finish in the Asian Championship in 2016 for Chauhan. But it was a bronze in the 2017 Asian Championships that saw Chauhan emerging as a serious talent on the national scene. 

Even though time was running out for her to win a quota, Chauhan says she remained calm and trusted the hard work she had put in while training under Italian coach Riccardo Filipelli in Aritzo, where Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Diana Bocosi and 2022 World Cup Final silver medallist Martina Bartolomei also practice. 

Even though time was running out for her to win a quota, Chauhan says she remained calm and trusted the hard work she had put in while training under Italian coach Riccardo Filipelli in Aritzo, where Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Diana Bocosi and 2022 World Cup Final silver medallist Martina Bartolomei also practice. 

"The biggest thing I learned in Italy was how the Italian shooters shot with a relaxed mind. They don't get too worked up and keep the focus going while having fun in the sport," Chauhan concluded.