Combining coloured hair and high scores, Ameerah Arshad, 17, is Indian rifle shooting’s latest prospect

A day after she won gold in the senior women’s category of the marque 10m air rifle event at the National Shooting Championships, Ameerah Arshad is back home in the village of Khizri in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district. Ameerah’s mother has made her favourite  gajar ka halwa to celebrate the win. That dish is nearly as sweet as her victory in Bhopal.

“It’s still really an overwhelming feeling. I still can’t believe I did it. I feel this result was way out my league,” says the 17-year-old.

In a way, perhaps it was, for Ameerah—placed on the top of the podium in a field that included Asian Games medallist and Olympic finalist Ramita Jindal and Asian silver medallist Tilottama Sen.

Ameerah, who shot a score of 631.5 in qualification, had actually made it to the final of the youth, junior and senior categories all of which were to be held on the same day. “Realistically I was expecting to do well in the youth and junior categories. I won a silver in the youth category but then I took things a little lightly in the junior category and ended up without a medal,” she says.

That result she says drove her to refocus herself. For Ameerah that means plugging in her earphones and playing her current favourite music (DawnFM by Weeknd). “I just listened to the music and thought carefully about what I had to do. When I listen to music, no matter how stressed I am, everything goes back to normal. When everything was done I ended up winning the senior gold,” she says.

The win was doubly special, Ameerah says since few expected her to pull it off. “I don’t know why but I always get the feeling people underestimate me. But the same people who didn’t take me as a threat came and congratulated me and that felt really special,” she says.

If some of her competitors were indeed underestimating her, they aren’t likely to for much longer. Ameerah’s senior national title is an impressive result, especially for someone who only started shooting a little over three years ago.

Growing up in Khizri, Ameerah didn’t have much of an idea about sports. “My family is better known for politics (Her uncle is long standing member of Haryana state legislature Akram Khan). There wasn’t anyone who had pursued sports,” she says.

That changed when her family moved to Chandigarh for better schooling opportunities. “I wasn’t really enjoying studies in Chandigarh so my father suggested I try out some sports which he thought might help me mentally,” she says.

Fortuitous start

She initially started out as a roller skater, competing at the district level before switching to badminton before being introduced to shooting. “Initially it felt like just one more sport but what I liked more was the praise I got when I shot well. But eventually I fell in love with the sport. Everytime I hold the rifle I feel this sense of power,” she says.

Training under coach Sahil Rana at Panchkula’s Golden Eagle academy, she was clearly gifted. So much so that within a year of starting the sport, Ameerah, who had originally moved to Chandigarh for her studies started to focus on her shooting.

But last year, Ameerah nearly gave it all up. Going into the 2025 shooting national championships in January, Ameerah says she was confident of reaching the final and potentially placing on the podium. But then disaster struck. “In all my practise sessions I was averaging a score of 633. I was really sure of making the final. I was actually telling myself I was going to win every medal there was to win. But then at the nationals I shot 623. I was so disappointed that I wanted to quit right then. I realise now that that was my childishness doing the thinking but at that moment, I didn’t want to do anything with the sport,” she says.

Eventually the pendulum swung in her favour. At last year’s shooting selection trials, she shot personal best scores of 630 and 631.6 to earn a place in the Indian team that competed at the Asian Youth Championships in Kazakhstan.

Ameerah’s form dipped once more at that competition—she only shot a modest 625 in qualification. And although she eventually won a silver in the mixed team event, Ameerah says she wasn’t satisfied with her performance.

The result at Bhopal’s national championships has more than made up for that disappointment she says. At the same time she knows her job isn’t done just yet.

Typical teen

“I was really thrilled after I won gold. So much so that my coach told me ‘ itna hawa me mat ud. Abhi bas national jiti ho (Keep your feet on the ground. You’ve only won a national title)’. So, I’m trying to stay a little grounded,” she says.

For the most part she is. When she’s not being one of the country’s top shooting prospects, Ameerah’s your typical teenage girl. She colours her hair—electric blue in Bhopal was her third shade of the past year. She also writes and reads voraciously —her last book was Trick Mirror—a compilation of essays on internet culture and contemporary feminism.

This year she will also be sitting for her class 12 Board Exams.

Where she really wants to do well though is on the range. She’s clear about her targets. “I don’t want to make big statements like I’m going to go to the Olympics. That would be stupid. But I’m trying to prepare myself for the junior World Championships. I want to focus on the junior level only for now. In February I’m going to be competing in the Junior Asian Championships, and I really want to do well at that competition. I want to build on what I’ve done already,” she says.

Published on Jan 04, 2026