Dhanush Srikanth Just Shot A Gold At Khelo India But Could Not Hear The Applause As He Was Not Wearing His Hearing Aid

Dhanush Srikanth couldn¡¯t hear the thunderous applause when he fired the last shot to win gold in the under-21 boys¡¯ 10m air rifle final at the Balewadi sports stadium. For, he wasn¡¯t wearing his hearing aid during the contest.

But the 16-year-old Telangana boy knew he had won gold as he beamed at his mother and coach.

Indeed, the medal at the Khelo India Youth Games was special, as it came not just after Dhanush defeated junior World Cup bronze medallist Arjun Babuta, but also because it made him the only shooter in the country with a hearing impairment to have won a medal in the regular category and not in competition meant exclusively for deaf shooters.

Dhanush first scored 629.7, his personal best, to top the qualification round and later 248.9, ahead of Goa¡¯s Yash Padloskar (247.6) and Punjab¡¯s Babuta (225.6) in the final.

Despite Dhanush being born with a hearing impairment, his parents did not believe in admitting him in a ¡°special¡± school for his education. Ditto for shooting.

¡°He couldn¡¯t hear since birth and got the hearing implant when he was just one. His speech was affected since he couldn¡¯t hear properly. We hired a speech therapist for that. But his communication is still unclear and he prefers to interact in sign language. However, we never thought of putting him in a special school,¡± says mother Asha.

Dhanush was always inclined towards sports. After taking up taekwondo early, he got attracted to shooting three years ago.

¡°Gagan Narang had opened his Gun For Glory academy in Secunderabad. Dhanush happened to see a poster of the academy and insisted on taking up shooting. Initially, we didn¡¯t take him seriously. But when he persisted, we enrolled him for a short-term course,¡± Asha said.

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However, it was neither easy for Dhanush nor the coaches at the academy as communication was the biggest hurdle. ¡°It was challenging for us. Our coaches started learning sign language. However, sign language does not have shooting vocabulary. So we had to develop a language that would help Dhanush understand shooting better,¡± Gagan told TOI.

Shooting for almost two years at the Secunderabad academy, Dhanush made the cut to its Project Leap, an elite training programme aimed at preparing athletes for the 2024 Olympics.

¡°He can hear when he uses the implant, but cannot understand everything that we say. Even using sign language, it is difficult to explain things like breathing pattern while shooting. But Dhanush has always taken efforts to improve his shooting. He watches a lot of videos of prominent shooters and learns the intricacies of the sport,¡± said Dhanush¡¯s coach and former shooter Neha Chavan.

Dhanush had finished fourth in second senior trials in Delhi recently, third in the junior (U-21) and second in the youth (U-18) categories.

¡°Shooting is everything for him now. It is evident from his attitude and confidence levels that he will win medals for the country,¡± Asha said.