KIYG 2023: Joydeep Karmakar's Son Adriyan Handles Expectations, Defends Title And Rediscovers Love For Shooting

Adriyan Karmakar not only loves shooting but also talking about shooting. "I can go on and on about it," he says. At the 6th Khelo India Youth Games in Chennai, Adriyan, representing West Bengal, successfully defended his gold medal in the 50m 3 positions event. At 18, he has already been shooting targets for two-thirds of his life. He has already had a phase where shooting became more of a chore that he felt he had to do because of who he was: the son of 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, 2010 World Cup silver medallist and 2012 Olympics 4th-placed rifle shooter Joydeep Karmakar.

He then had a frank conversation with his father, gradually rediscovered his passion for the sport, switched to 50m from 10m, and there's been no looking back since.

"A few years back, I kind of strayed away from the sport. I was not focused because I had been shooting from a very young age. So I had a phase where it was just, 'okay, my dad is telling me to go to the range. Okay, I'll just go to the range. I'll just stand there for 1 hour. I don't want to do that. I just want to watch YouTube or just play around," Adriyan says.

"But my dad was like, 'do you want to shoot? If you don't want to shoot, it's fine. You can study.' He has never forced me to shoot. He has always told me, 'you do whatever you want.' I never got the pressure from him. And he was very open with it. I was into arts and crafts a few years back. So then he got me marker pens and stuff, but they were hobbies, right? My shooting was my main thing. After that, again, I got my focus back into shooting. Now I am very focused, and this is all I want."

Recalling Adriyan's tryst with shooting, Joydeep said, "He started pretty early at the age of 8. Infact he was the youngest