Hyderabad, Sep 4 (IANS): Telangana-born athlete Dhanush Srikanth (22) has made his mark at the World Deaf Shooting Championships in Hanover, Germany by winning three gold medals for India in the 10m Air Rifle events. He also broke the World record in qualification, at the World Deaf Shooting Championships, with a score of 632.7 and went on to clinch the gold medal in the 10m Individual Men’s Air Rifle event with a total of 251.7, setting yet another World Record.

Dhanush’s mother, Asha Srikanth shed light on his journey to becoming an ace shooter.

“Dhanush was born deaf but that didn’t stop him from playing sports. In school, he would always come back with medals. So, I put him in Taekwondo when he was in 3rd grade and right now, he is a Dan 2 Taekwondo black belt. He also used to shoot toy guns at home as a kid. He would hang a target on the door and shoot for hours. It was when Gagan Narang’s Gun for Glory Branch opened in Trimulgherry in 2015 that he joined and really got into professional shooting,” she said.

Despite being born with a hearing impairment (for which he wears a cochlear implant), Dhanush Srikanth showcased his calibre as an elite talent by breaking into the Indian shooting contingent in the general category, beating top seeds and World Cup winners in his bid to reach the top.

After his impressive performance at the World Deaf Shooting Championships, Dhanush has set his sights on representing India in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics with able-bodied athletes.

“He's never satisfied, he was happy after winning three gold medals but he said 'I could have done better'. That's how Dhanush has been throughout, even after getting a medal, he tries to find areas in which he could improve. Dhanush was training for the Paris 2024 Olympics and even though it didn't really happen for him, we are happy to see him shift target to the 2028 LA Olympics,” Asha revealed the 22-year-old’s resilience.

Noticing a lack of support for Dhanush, Gagan Narang, the 2012 London Olympics medallist and Padma Shri awardee, took him under his wing in 2015 and since then he has been training at Gun For Glory Shooting Academy, Hyderabad under coach Neha Chavan and has amassed 13 International medals so far.

He won three gold medals at Asian Championship at Doha, in able body category in 2019. He also won a team gold medal in the 2021 ISSF Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru. Notably, Dhanush is also the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Deaflympics in 2022, in Brazil.

This is in addition to several domestic achievements including gold in the 2019 Khelo India Games, which made him the first deaf athlete to claim a medal in Khelo India Youth Games.

“Whatever Dhanush has achieved today is because of Gagan Narang, without his support nothing would have happened. Gagan has always helped him out in whatever way possible. He trains under the best coach at the academy, and the Gun for Glory Team is always there to support him.

"In fact, Dhanush has a special bond with the whole team and we are glad to see he feels at home with them,” she signed off.