Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Arjuna Awardee Roopa Unnikrishnan gives away the rifles that shaped her brilliant shooting career, hoping they will inspire a new generation of Indian shooters.
Key Points
- 'Handing my rifle and pistols over was as thorough a full stop as one could imagine to a significant chapter of my life.'
- 'My hope is that my trusty rifle will open up new vistas for some young sportsperson in the years ahead.'
- 'It was a symbolic passing of the torch to inspire the next generation of Indian markswomen and men.'
Handing my rifle and pistols over to the Commissioner of Police and the Chennai Rifle Club was as thorough a full stop as one could imagine to a significant chapter of my life.
My trusty rifle that had brought me so many accolades was particularly hard to let go.
I'd hung on to it for as long as I could, even though the metal in my back and other sundry part of my body meant I wouldn't be competing seriously with a rifle.
Id sacrificed my back for my sport, and country -- carrying a 9 pound rifle for hours on end in a bit of a contorted position for balance had wrecked a couple of my vertebrae and my knee. But that was a small price to pay for the expertise, travel and opportunities that were opened to me.
Bittersweet Farewell
As I took the rifle and pistols out of storage and ran my hands over the boxes covered in stickers from around the world commemorating the various games I'd taken these amazing tools of my sport to... I questioned the choice to give them away. For a moment. Then I breathed and recommitted to the act.
As I handed them over, my voice shook and tears rose in my eyes. But I remembered my early days, when I'd use a rifle from the club's stores to learn how to shoot.
My hope is that my trusty rifle will open up new vistas for some young sportsperson in the years ahead.
It was a bit of a symbolic passing of the torch to inspire the next generation of Indian markswomen and men.
This rifle helped me etch my name into the history of Indian shooting when I became the first Indian woman to win a Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, setting a Games record in the 50-meter rifle prone event.
Other wins it helped me to:
• Commonwealth Games Medals: Gold Medalist (50m Rifle Prone, 1998), Silver Medalist (50m Small Bore Rifle Three Positions, 1994), and Bronze Medalist (Team Event, 1994).
• World Shooting Grand Prix: Silver Medalist in Fort Benning, Georgia (1998).
• Arjuna Award: Bestowed with India's highest national sporting honour by the President of India in 1999.
• Academic & Leadership Distinction: A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Oxford Extraordinary Full Blue recipient, and global corporate strategy leader.
The Rifle's Journey
Rifles had been part of my life since the serendipitous day when one of my father's junior colleagues, Inspector Casey, had given 11-year-old me a short lesson and set me up to shoot.
Ten shots and my fate was sealed -- I had shot a tight group of shots bang in the centre 10.
The precision Anschutz .22 rifle that I handed over was born in the German town of Ulm, brought over by my uncle Keshavan who went to pick it up at the factory and brought to Chennai in 1994.
It was funded by the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa, in recognition of my silver and bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada that year.
It travelled with me to Oxford where I practiced in the small indoor range at the university, and in the overgrown local range out in the countryside thanks to the help of the local club leader, John Sims.
As I caressed the wooden stock, I remembered that it was custom-built by John for me, since the wide factory-built stock had been a little wide for my hands, and balanced differently. The man was an artist.
I went through my shooting bag earlier that morning, putting aside the cleaning rod and cloth roll that I used so religiously to keep the gun in pristine shooting condition.
I remembered the hours my mother spent, travelling to practice sessions and competitions and urging me to focus and hurry at the end of long sessions as I cleaned up.
She would have loved the ceremony and its spirit. She, more than anyone else, knew what investing in others meant. All the shooting club members remembered her grace and humor today.
My father's wisdom in making this hand-over happened is typical of his approach to life.
The small sacrifice to make more happen for the world.
He remembered that first day of shooting, but also my persistence in getting me to the rifle club later.
He had been an avid golfer, and his Saturday and Sunday mornings were his golf days. But his friend Walter Davaram had told him, "You will never be a champion golfer, Unni. But Roopa will one day be a champion shooter."
That had given him the final push to get me to the range and sign me up.
His single-minded effort to ensure that I got access to the rifles and ammunition, but also the coaching help from A J Jallaludin, Jalal-uncle, were deeply instrumental in my own legacy of shooting success.
The support of all of these stalwarts are ingrained in the wood of the rifle that now sits in the Chennai Rifle Club.
Chennai's Shooting Community
The Chennai Rifle Club itself has thrived and grown. I remembered the small group of us who would spend our weekends practicing in the heat, wind and rain.
We rationed ammunition, exchanged equipment, coached one another. Tweaking our stance, looking for that little adjustment that would get us closer to the perfect 600.
We numbered in the tens, getting to know each other well over train rides to Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolhapur, Mumbai and Munger and a host of other competitions.
Today, the community of Chennai shooters has grown, standing at 1,600! I wish each and every one of them great success.
Chennai's Police Commissioner, Dr Amalraj, IPS, is an avid shooter and supporter of the sport. He established the Police Museum, which commemorates the force, but also the sport of shooting.
I am grateful that I was handing the guns over to someone with such a fine sensibility.
I also thank D V S Rao, who watched me shoot as a child, and was there to share anecdotes about our teams. His wife Asha was one of my first team mates as was Mrs Malathy David, who came out to felicitate me.
Mrs David is a force to be reckoned with -- she is still at it at 80, winning medals at competitions and being a maternal presence always. What an inspiration!
I was happy to hand the keys to my past to the President of the Chennai Rifle Club, Mr Rajashekhar, who was one of my team mates growing up.
We both have a few grey hair and our kids now carry our flame. In his case, his daughter is doing fabulously in shooting, a true straight line to legacy.
Shooting's Enduring Impact
Shooting, and those guns, opened up so much to me.
It took me around the world, got me the chance to study at Oxford thanks to a Rhodes Scholarship, and then went on to work in consulting and then become chief strategy officer in industrial companies like IDEX, Vontier, and Harman.
It gave me a growth mindset that allows me to take on new efforts with focus, and today I write.
There's my murder mystery set in Manamadurai, The Jasmine Murders, is on Indian and global shelves right now, and my new business book, The Leader's Oracle, is available for pre-purchase on Amazon and will launch in February 2027.
Shooting gave me focus and ambition and the spirit to experiment and evolve.
So now, even as I say goodbye to my favorite guns, I look forward to maybe continue evolving... and maybe taking up some relaxed pistol shooting when I get back to New York City. I don't think I'll be competing... but you never know!
Roopa Unnikrishnan is a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, an Arjuna Awardee and a Rhodes Scholar.
Roopa is the author of The Leader's Oracle on strategy in an uncertain world, which will be published in 2027. Her fiction debut, The Jasmine Murders was launched in India in January.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff
