Inside Mhow’s School of Precision, the Road to LA takes shape

The city feels like a distant world by the time one reaches the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) in Mhow.

An installation depicting three shooters greets visitors at the entrance to the sprawling compound, leaving little doubt that the pursuit of precision has found a fitting home in this town along the Agra-Mumbai highway.

Regimental flags flutter along the approach to the 10m range, each marking the traditions and identities that shape life within the establishment. Their myriad colours lend vibrancy to an otherwise restrained landscape.

AMU athletes start the day with a Yogasana session. | Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY

As the first rays of the sun bathe the campus in ombre hues, the sharp, resonant call of a conch shell breaks the morning stillness. It is 6 a.m., and Bhavesh Patil, a renowned gold medal-winning yogasana coach, is ushering in the day with a meditative session for a group of athletes at the skeet range. Just outside, a few shooters jog around the campus under the watchful guidance of two other trainers.

Just like that, AMU, a nearly five-decade-old institution built on discipline, appears to shake off its slumber.

A discernible glint of pride appears in the eyes of Colonel Naren Babu Chalasani, the outgoing Commanding Officer (CO) of the AMU, as he surveys his surroundings. Perhaps the promise shown by AMU’s latest crop of shooters gives him reason to pause and take stock.

Col. Naren Babu Chalasani, the outgoing Commanding Officer (CO) of the Unit. | Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY

At the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, the Army shooters returned with four medals: three gold and a silver. Trap shooter Naib Subedar Neeru Dhanda won gold in the women’s individual and mixed team events with new Asian records. She also contributed a silver to India’s medal tally in the women’s team competition, alongside recent AMU inductee Manisha Keer.

Meanwhile, Havildar Kamaljeet partnered non-AMU shooter Suruchi Singh to secure gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event, equalling the continental record in qualification and setting a new one in the final.

A bit of history

The Army shooting team was raised at the EME (The Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers) Centre in Secunderabad on April 1, 1977. It moved to the Infantry School in Mhow in January 1980 and was later upgraded to the AMU on December 17, 1993.

The Unit’s current international-level shooting facility, complete with the 10m, 25m, 50m, trap and skeet ranges, was completed on July 31, 2007.

Its Olympic pedigree began to take shape when Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in the double trap at Athens 2004, India’s first-ever medal in a shooting event at the Summer Games. Subedar Major Vijay Kumar followed with silver in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol at London 2012. A benchmark had been set.

The Sportstar cover dated August 28, 2004, featuring Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, India’s first shooting medallist at the Olympics.

The Unit has produced 11 Olympians to date. Its athletes have also won a combined 667 other international and 4,767 national medals. Of these, 25 have come at World Championships, 56 at Asian Championships, 18 at the Asian Games and 30 at the Commonwealth Games.

The Gen-Alpha pipeline

Developing young talent has become central to AMU’s strategy. Recruitment is based on trials approved by the National Rifle Association of India, which test a shooter’s physical, psychological and technical skills.

The Army Boys Sports Company (ABSC) was raised in 2022, followed by the girls’ company (AGSC) two years later. The boys’ hostel currently holds 26 shooters, while the girls’ Company has 18. There were close to 1,100 applications in the most recent round, of which only 11 candidates were shortlisted for admission.

The selection process included a full match, with 50 per cent weightage given to prior best score, 25 per cent to the skill test on the day, 20 per cent to physical attributes, including running, core strength and agility, and the remaining five per cent to a psychological questionnaire assessing the athletes’ aspirational space.

“Once an athlete comes into the system, we nurture them from all angles. We take them forward step by step to initially dominate the national circuit and then the Indian team,” says Col. Naren.

The results have already begun to surface.

In June 2026, Cadet Sejal Kamble became the junior 10m air pistol world champion in Suhl, Germany. Cadet Navya won gold in the team event of the Championships, while Himanshi took bronze in the individual competition.

In April, at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Cairo, Sejal also won silver medals in the 25m pistol and 10m air pistol events.

Sejal smiles when asked about her demanding daily schedule. The 19-year-old, who started shooting at her mother’s behest at the Perfect Aim Shooting Club in Pune before being picked by the AMU at the Open trials, hopes to feature in the Olympics some day.

Sejal Kamble has kept the AMU flag flying high. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

“Here they are strict and disciplined. Every day I wake up at 5.30 a.m. I do yoga in the morning, then have breakfast. Then I practise between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. After that, I take a break for lunch and some rest. I practise again between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. There is some physical training after which I have dinner and rest up... There are psychologists here who also help in mental strengthening. I have been consulting him for two years now,” she tells Sportstar. Around her, shooters remain absorbed in their routines, with the rhythmic clang of air pistol pellets striking the electronic targets filling the air.

The Army views quality education as integral to an athlete’s development. To that end, AMU has partnered with the Army Public School and Colonel’s Academy, a private school in Mhow. While the Sports Authority of India (SAI) promotes an open-schooling model for athletes, Col. Naren believes a more conventional educational foundation is essential to building a stronger future.

He says, “The kids go to school every day but receive a concession of two to three hours. For example, if the school runs until 3.30 p.m. or 4 p.m., our athletes come back by 1.30 p.m. This ensures that for at least half of the working day, they are able to train.

“Today’s champion is someone who is very knowledgeable. He or she should be aware of the physics of sports. Shooting is all about the combination of Physics and Mathematics. Your centre of gravity, foot pressure, the angles at which you are holding your weapon, the timing of the shot, the trigger pull, the lead you are taking — there are so many parameters.”

An ever-expanding para shooting programme

Para shooting is another important strand of AMU’s work. The programme, conceptualised in May 2022, has since sent athletes to major international competitions.

While on a special mission along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri in 2018, Subedar Amir Ahmad Bhat, enlisted in the 15th Battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (15 JAK LI), sustained severe injuries from a landmine blast, which led to the loss of his left heel and talus bone.

The accident, however, did not dampen his spirits. Known for being an excellent shot, he brought his expertise to the range, becoming the first Indian World No. 1 in the P3 Mixed 25m Pistol SH1 category. He later competed at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, finishing 11th with a score of 568.

Bhat’s subsequent performances included gold in the P3 mixed 25m pistol SH1 event and bronze in the P5 mixed 10m air pistol standard SH1 event at the 2025 WSPS Para World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

READ: India’s shooting slide at the Asian Games and what it reveals

Bhat (25m sports pistol SH1) and Havildar Anandhakrishnan H (10m air rifle standing SH1) represented the country at the 2026 Para Asian Games, with the latter finishing 13th in qualification with a score of 605.2.

The emphasis on para shooting broadens the Unit’s competitive mission. Its next challenge is to turn these performances into sustained results.

Beyond training

The Unit’s training framework uses two models, Agriculture and Archery, to explain how it intends to develop athletes and protect their progress.

The Agriculture model treats the athlete as a seed. The coach and sports-science team provide the soil, offering specialist interventions from time to time while the top brass creates a conducive environment through better structures, policies, funding and equipment.

In the Archery model, top-level management is the bow that envisions an athlete’s career path. The arrow’s shaft represents the coaching setup that helps the athlete stay on course despite resistance, turbulence and drift.

Manisha Keer, who spent more than a decade at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy before recently joining the AMU, is yet to get used to the ways. “Here, they are a lot stricter. You have to follow certain things and adhere to rules. Everything needs to be completed on time. It’s mostly do or die,” she says.

Manisha is seen training at the AMU trap range. | Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY

Strict schedules for bedtime, meals and training are part of the military ethos. They help regulate recovery, crucial to maintaining concentration and consistency. Unlike many civilian academies, AMU operates within the Army’s established chain of command, where discipline and routine are paramount.

AMU’s emphasis on process over results also shapes how it supports athletes going through a lean patch. The Unit believes in giving shooters time to work through their shortcomings and rediscover their form. The idea is to assess an athlete’s progress over a longer cycle.

“An Olympic medal is not won on technical ability alone. It also requires a strong character. Subedar Major Gurpreet Singh is a classic example. He is a 2016 Olympian who finished seventh at the Games and is an Arjuna Award recipient. After so many years, he is back among India’s best and is set to compete at the World Championships in Doha from November 1.

“Gurpreet has not always been in the best of form, but we believed in him, and he placed his confidence in us. When we know an athlete has the ability, we are willing to hold on to them, support them and help them get across the river,” Col. Naren says as the 38-year-old is seen going through his drills in solitude at the 25m range, his attention trained entirely on the target ahead. Away from the bustle of the other ranges, the veteran shooter appears immersed in a rhythm shaped by years of competition.

It’s been almost 20 years since Gurpreet Singh started participating in international pistol events. | Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY

“ Shuru majboori mein kiye the, ab maza aa raha hai,” quips Gurpreet, quoting Guddu Pandit, the iconic character played by Ali Fazal in the hit Indian crime-thriller web series Mirzapur, when asked how he keeps himself motivated. The line loosely translates to ‘I merely started out of compulsion, but now I have begun enjoying it.’

Us and them

When asked to compare the AMU with other professional shooting academies in India, Col. Naren smiles. “My competition is with an academy sitting in China, Korea, the US or Italy. We are not competing with academies within India. There is a larger strategic thought process here. If you see the last three years, we have a world champion (Naib Subedar Ravinder Singh in 50m free pistol), a junior world champion (Sejal), the World No. 1 para athlete (Bhat), former World No. 2 (Naib Subedar Varun Tomar), and then we have the first woman who won the trap gold in the Lonato World Cup and the Asian Games (Neeru). So, we have clocked many milestones and are very poised for the LA Olympics and Paralympics,” he says.

Because shooters must travel extensively for competitions, Col. Naren has devised an unusual way to prepare them and his team for competing across time zones.

“... How does one prepare a residential athlete who’s having a jet lag of six hours in a different time zone? Sometimes after dinner, at around 10 p.m. when they’re about to sleep, an announcement is made that there will be an air pistol match at 4 a.m. the following day. So, the shooters have to get up at 2 o’clock, come to the range at 3 a.m., and play the match. So, having retired to their beds at 10 p.m., they are made to wake up at 2 a.m., which translates to only four hours of sleep. So, with half-a-sleep, they have to play a full match, which will be as competitively stacked as possible.”

The academy has also introduced a novel ‘sixth-day training’ curriculum to test skills beyond the range. “On Saturdays, we do navigation exercises. We leave the athletes in groups in the nearby jungles and mountains and ask them to trek, navigate, and reach a particular location in under a given time period. No tools, no compass, no mobile phone... they have to use their analytical mind to cross multiple locations and reach the said mark.”

Ravinder explains how these unique regimens helped him crack the code at the Cairo World Championship in 2025. He said, “When I became the (50m free pistol) world champion in Cairo, I was up against a Chinese and a Korean shooter. My training mirrors that of the Special Forces — whether it’s navigation, midnight calls, or survival tests like making do for hours on two potatoes, a packet of instant noodles, and one litre of water —because the only goal is to win. I relied on that winning mindset and defeated my opponent by a 13-point margin.”

Coaches, specialists and international exposure

A dedicated support structure is planned around the athletes. Alongside coaching expertise and support staff, it includes a nutritionist, psychologist, physiotherapist, masseur and strength-and-conditioning specialist.

Subedar Major Himmat Singh, a free and air pistol coach who also trains Varun, is seen walking with measured steps behind the athletes at the 10m range, keeping a close eye on their technique and execution. His interventions are few and far between, but his attention is fixed on the finer details that can make the difference between a good shot and a perfect one. He has been at the Unit since 2019. Clearly, much about training has changed since then.

He said, “The support staff now has psychologists or physiotherapists, who we didn’t deal with much earlier. Coaching used to be pretty basic, so it has been a learning curve for me as well. Nowadays we hold conferences once a week, sitting with our seniors, CO sahib and with all the support staff. The discussions are free-wheeling, with attention to individual shooters as well. If someone has lost form, we will sit and do a complete data analysis to figure out the issues.”

The broader ambition is to align these resources with the demands of successive Olympic cycles.

Turning medals into an Olympic pathway

AMU’s recent results are encouraging, but the Unit’s longer-term ambitions will be judged by how many athletes it can prepare to compete for Olympic and Paralympic medals.

With a raft of changes introduced to the programme in the wake of Paris 2024, Col. Naren is optimistic that AMU can end its Olympic shooting medal drought at Los Angeles 2028 and build on that success from Brisbane 2032 onwards.

He said, “First, with the AGSC raised in May 2024, a major strategic step was taken towards our ambition for a strong Olympic performance in the coming years.

“Then there has been a quantum increase in funding from Rs 4.5 crore in 2023 to about Rs 12 crore now, with a budget explicitly allocated for sports science, development, and foreign coaches.

“Third, we shifted from a result-oriented academy to a process-oriented academy. We implemented a comprehensive ecosystem, particularly for juniors.

“Fourth, we realised the pace of international movement required flexibility, leading to the signing of a corporate sports development Memorandum of Understanding with the Reliance Foundation (on November 7, 2025). Reliance has helped us secure quality international exposure, bring the best sports science expertise to our athletes, and hire coaches. These are areas where the partnership helps us bridge existing gaps.

“Finally, the core group of officers managing this increased from five to nine, allowing for dedicated managers for sports science, performance, talent scouting, and data.”

Recent international medal figures, including those from World Cups, World Championships and Asian Championships, suggest an uptick. Among 73 AMU athletes who participated in various international competitions between 2021–24, 31 medalled, followed by 23 of 49 in a single year in 2025, and 28 of 46 in 2026.

While the numbers offer some encouragement, the real test of AMU’s methods lies ahead on the biggest stage of all.

For now, the ranges of Mhow remain a world away from the Olympic arena. Yet, with Los Angeles 2028 on the horizon, the distance between the two is shrinking every day, one shot at a time.

Published on Oct 26, 2026

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