Paris Olympics 2024: 'Nervous and excited' Indian shooter Raiza Dhillon focussed on execution

Among the 72 Indian athletes set to debut at the Paris Olympics 2024, there will be a few who will make history by entering an event for the first time from the country. One of them is a young Raiza Dhillon, 20, who is the first Indian woman to secure an Olympic quota in skeet shooting.

All set to mark India’s first representation in the women’s skeet shooting event, Raiza has an interesting tale of how she took up the sport, inspired by her family members and their guns at her paternal home, even though the sport isn’t something that runs in the blood of the Dhillon family. Raiza’s grandfather was the district council of the Shamgarh village in Karnal district in Haryana, whereas her mother Gul Dhillon is the village Sarpanch (Head of the village).

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Raiza was inspired by the guns her father and grandfather used for hunting. Her father, Ravijit Singh Dhillon, recognised her potential and introduced her to the sport.

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“I, as a kid, had tried multiple sports, but it never really got my interest. So, my father then introduced me to shooting because he had a bit of a background in guns and hunting. But we started with air rifle shooting in the start, you know, to get a good foundation. So, I did air rifle shooting for about two, three years, and then I shifted to shotgun,” Raiza told reporters during an online interaction organised by Baseline Ventures.

“I tried both skeet and trap, and I had an inclination towards skeet shooting, so I started doing skeet shooting in 2019,” she added.

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According to Raiza, it was the excitement factor due to which she decided to switch from rifle shooting to shotgun shooting. “I liked rifle shooting a lot, but, you know, for me, um, shotgun shooting was a little more exciting and thrilling, and I caught on to the basics really fast, which was something very, like, interesting to me. So I felt like, you know, since I have caught on to it so fast, I could do well in it,” she said.

Dhillon had missed the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year, but made up for it with three medals at the 2024 Asian Olympic Shotgun Qualifiers, including a gold in the women’s skeet team event. It was a silver in the women’s individual skeet event which helped Raiza secure a quota for the Paris Olympics.

She knows that competing in the Olympics is a big deal but the youngster is not thinking too much about it at the moment. For the Haryana shooter, it’s about putting in all her hard work, giving it her best, and not getting distracted by how her opponents fare.

“Honestly, I’ve kept a very realistic goal. I want to perform well. But at the same time, I feel like all I need to work on is implementing what I’ve practiced right there. I don’t want to get too affected by or intimidated by the shooters around me.

“Because obviously the shooters who’ve been shooting for so long are such talented shooters and I definitely take inspiration from them, but I don’t want to be intimidated by them. So my focus is just working on my own goal and my process and not getting bothered about how anybody else is performing or shooting,” the 2023 Junior World Championship silver medallist said.

‘Both nervous and excited’

Raiza, who had been training in Italy and will travel to Paris on Wednesday, was nervous and at the same time excited to make her Olympics debut. “I think I am both nervous and excited. I do have a set of psychologists with me that have been given by our federation and by the government as well as the TOPS program. So if I have any issues about something, I do have a psychologist, and then we have meditation sessions and breathing exercises,” she said.

She further elaborated on her training routine and her fitness regime. “I have been provided with a nutritionist and a physical trainer. I have been working with them over the past year. I have a schedule of working out for like six days a week switching between physical training, cardio, and core workouts.

“I also train all days a week because we have the Olympics around the corner. So, we have been having a very hectic schedule. I do my shooting in the morning and the gym, and then I take a bit of rest and recovery. And then I go back to the range in the evening to shoot,” added Dhillon.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Anjum Moudgil is someone whom Raiza has spoken with on a few occasions, but the latter hopes to learn from fellow Olympics participant Sift Kaur Samra, who will take part in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.

“I have interacted with Anjum a few times, but I’m very close to Sift Samra. She’s also going to the Olympics, and she has been a really big, you know, motivator in my life and has given me a lot of guidance. So, you know, I hope she and I can take this journey together and learn a lot from it,” Dhillon signed off.