Shagun Chowdhary Biography: Shagun Chowdhary is an exceptional Indian trap shooter from Jaipur in Rajasthan. The Rajasthani athlete is the first Indian woman to secure an Olympic berth in trap shooting discipline. She bagged 20th place in the trap shooting event at 2012 Summer Olympics. A nation where women aren’t encouraged much to become an athlete, Shagun Chowdhary’s journey to becoming the only woman to secure an Olympic berth in trap-shooting is indeed an inspiring one.
EARLY LIFE
As a kid, trap shooter Shagun Chowdhary used to take a toy gun with her to the shooting range and mimicked her father. Her mother though has different aspirations for her daughteter as she wanted Shagun to become a doctor or study MBA. Sport was never a career option for Shagun till she earned her very first international medal back in 2003. Apart from her interest in shooting, Shagun is also a state-level swimming champion. The shooter even bunked her lectures to go shoot with her father at the Tughlakabad range. Shagun too faced a lot of problems when she picked the shooting career over MBA. But her father always motivated her and fought for Shagun until everyone agreed to her opinion.
PERSONAL LIFE
Shagun Chowdhary was born on 26 June 1983 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. In the year 1986, the 3-year-old shooter got impressed by watching her father’s shooting performance. From then Shagun started to accompany her father & see him passionately aiming at clay targets. Meanwhile, the little Shagun would mimic his father’s actions with a toy gun.
Since she was a sporty kid, she managed to reach the state level swimming in school. When Shagun got admission in the Jesus & Mary College, the shooter moved to Delhi. It was when her father advised her to try her hands on shooting at the Tughlakabad range.
Everything went great until she was fired at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range at Tughlakabad. But as an athlete, Shagun never lost her confidence. Her life never fell short of teaching her many lessons and the biggest lesson in her sporting career was to develop patience.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Till 2001, Shagun Chowdhary didn’t even pick a shotgun. And in the same year, Shagun won the National Shooting Championships at the Thunderbolt ranges, where, as a kid, Shagun watched her father shooting.
At the initial stages of her life, Shagun had no shotgun to practice due to its astronomical price. She used to borrow cartridges to sharpen her shooting skills.
Till 2004, Shagun shot double and also was a part of the Indian shooting team. But International Body for Shooting removed Women’s Double trap as an Olympic sport & it came like a blow to Shagun, especially since the shooter helped her country to earn a bronze at the 2003 Asian Clay Championships in the same sport.
In 2005, Shagun took a bold move of switched to trap that was a faster sport than the double trap. Initially, she started training without any coach & gradually picked some bad habits. But then she started training under Marcello Dradi which boosted her confidence.
In 2011, Shagun competed at the World Cup where she lost out on achieving entry to the Olympics. Her best score in the competition was 72/75.
Shagun got her another shot in Belgrade at the World Championships. With more preparation, Shagun was able to secure a fourth portion & also an Olympic berth.
When the shooter started to play, sponsorship for Olympic sports was minuscule. Shagun too faced problems due to lack of sponsorship. Surprisingly, the trap shooter found ready backers in the form of the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), a not-for-profit organization, founded by former badminton champion Prakash Padukone and billiards wiz Geet Sethi that particularly sponsors Olympians.
ACHIEVEMENTS
SUMMER OLYMPICS
- 20TH place: 2012, London: Trap shooting
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- 4TH position: 2011, Belgrade: Trap shooting
61ST NATIONAL SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP
- Titled national champion: 2017: Women’s Trap Event
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Shagun Chowdhary
Nickname: Shagun Chowdhary
Sport: Shooting
Events: Trap shooting
Country: India
Father’s name: Sushil Chowdhary
Mother’s name: NOT UPDATED
Coach: Marcello Dradi & Daniele Di Spigno
Supported by: Olympic Gold Quest
Education: Jesus & Mary College, New Delhi
Height: 5 feet 64 inch
Weight: 68 kg (149 lbs)
Eye colour: Black
Hair colour: Black
Date of birth: 26 June 1983
Age: 36
Birth Place: Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Zodiac sign: Cancer
Nationality: Indian
Hometown: Jaipur
Religion: Hind
NET WORTH
N/A
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES
FACEBOOK- https://www.facebook.com/Shagun-Chowdhary-282727341835165/
INSTAGRAM- https://www.instagram.com/shagunchow/?hl=en