Adriyan Karmakar follows his father's gunsteps

PUNE: Four years ago, a seven-year-old Adriyan Karmakar was disappointed after his father Joydeep missed out on a 50m rifle prone medal at the London Games.
He asked himself "how can he miss?"
Four years down the line, the Kolkata boy has started understanding the intensity of pressure faced by shooters. The knowledge has come after some first-hand experiences and a lot of brainstorming sessions with his father.
On Thursday, Adriyan, 11, qualified to shoot in the national trials for the 10m air rifle Indian youth team (under-18) by scoring 593.5 at the ongoing 60th National Shooting championships at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Mhalunge-Balewadi.Out of the 410 shooters, who were shooting to score the cut-off score of 585 and get eligible for the trials, Adriyan was one of 180 shooters who had achieved the target. He is one of the youngest of the qualified shooters.
This means that Adriyan and his father will both vie for spots in the respective national teams when the trials are held here in Pune from January 12.
Joydeep will however be contesting in the men's 50m rifle prone event.
"It is an emotional moment for both of us. I am happy that he shot a score above the cut-off," Joydeep said.
Since his father was into the sport, shooting was a natural choice for Adriyan. The option was to pick between rifle and pistol. "Many people like bikes, but I like cars. I like big things, so I chose rifle," Adriyan couldn't have kept it simpler.
As he himself shoots now, he understands what goes in to fire each shot. "Now I know what it takes to reach an Olympics final. I know my dad did the best he could and it is not easy to win a medal at that level," he said.
He feels it is just a beginning for him and setting unrealistic targets would be wrong.
"My first step of shooting the cut-off score is taken. My next aim would be to translate this by making it to the Indian team. It won't be easy as I will have to be consistent with my scores," said Adriyan, who feels lifting a 6kg rifle is the toughest thing in shooting.
When asked if he does some physical exercise to support his shooting, he smiles and shakes his head in negative. "The only workout he does is to take out a chocolate bar from his bag," Karmakar senior said to pull his son's leg.
There are only a few father-son duo in shooting, who have made it to the Indian team. Ashok Pandit-Ronak Pandit, Darius Chenai-Kynan Chenai and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore-Manavaditya are a few father-son duos to have played at the national level.