Shot at history

Tokyo Olympian Mairaj Ahmed Khan: Agrima Kanwar was 18 months old when Abhinav Bindra won gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. But as she became aware of his heroics, she followed him as her guiding light. And just the past week, she became the first medal winner for Himachal Pradesh, clinching silver in the women’s Skeet shooting competition in the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 Bihar.

Agrima said she did not know much about Abhinav Bindra before she started shooting, “But when I started shooting some years ago, my father, a Colonel in the Indian Army, gifted me a copy of Mr. Bindra’s autobiography, A Shot At History. He said I would find it relatable. And he was absolutely right,” she said.

The young shooter was particularly moved by Abhinav Bindra’s account of missing out on an Olympic medal in Athens in 2004. “Reading about how he dealt with that failure, the patience and perfectionism he practiced, and how he bounced back made a deep impact. I realised that setbacks are a part of the journey,” Agrima said.