New Delhi, Sept. 26 -- Rohit Kanyan was inspired after watching Neeraj Chopra win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. He immediately got out of his house and looked for a sports academy nearby. There happened to be a shooting academy in Karnal, so he chose to hold the air rifle instead of a javelin. Deependra Shekhawat from Sikar in Rajasthan initially chose swimming at school but switched to shooting, considering the bright future in the sport. He now trains at the Jagatpura shooting range in Jaipur. Anushka Thokur's father thought his daughter could take good aim after seeing her bursting balloons with an air gun. He found a range for her in Bengaluru and then sent her to Gagan Narang's Gun For Glory academy in Chennai. She is now being guided by one of India's finest rifle 3P shooters, Sanjeev Rajput, at the national camp. On Thursday, all of these young talents were on the podium at the ISSF Junior Shooting World Cup at the Karni Singh range here in the prone event. Their journeys show that shooting is attracting India's top sporting talent from across the country. Easy availability of shooting ranges, dedicated coaches from grassroots to the national level, a clear pathway to the top as charted out by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), and international performances to motivate young athletes - all have come together for the sport that fetched India three out of six Olympic medals in Paris. At the first ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl in May, Indian junior shooters dominated and topped the medal tally with three gold, four silver, and four bronze medals. On the first day at home, Indian shooters showed similar intent, with a clean sweep in the women's prone event and two of the three medals in men's prone. Gaining confidence from her title win at the Junior Asian Championships in Kazakhstan, 18-year-old Anushka clinched gold here with a score of 621.6, with teammates Anshika (619.2) and Aadhya Agrawal (615.9) taking the next two spots in the women's junior prone event. In the men's junior prone event, Shekhawat won silver (617.9) while Rohit took bronze (616.3). AIN's (neutral athletes) Kamil Nuriakhmetov took the gold (618.9). While prone is a non-Olympic event, Indian shooters are expected to produce similarly commanding performances as competition begins in Olympic events from Friday. It was striking to see the young Indian talents handle the pressure on home turf. "I am happy to win my first World Cup gold medal in India. It was tougher at the Asian Championships. The wind was very bad. I did my best there. I do well under pressure," said Anushka. Asked about the competition in the junior ranks, Anushka says she is just focused on herself. She is inspired by double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker, Asian Games gold medallist Sift Kaur Samra, and one of India's most consistent 3P shooters, Anjum Moudgil. Rohit's inspiration is away from the shooting range-Chopra. "Nobody in my family had played the sport before, but they encouraged me," Rohit said. Shekhawat found his calling in shooting after trying out swimming for a long time. "This was my first international competition, and to win a medal here was such a nice feeling."...