From marbles to medals: BSF’s teenage marksman keeps India’s shooting dream on target

Indore: Years before he climbed the podium in Germany, Chandra Raj was a village boy in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district playing marbles with unusual precision. His elder brother noticed the rare accuracy first, and that small observation set in motion a journey that has now made the 19-year-old BSF constable one of India’s most promising young pistol shooters.At the ISSF Junior World Shooting Championship 2026 in Suhl, Germany, Chandra Raj won two bronze medals, finishing third in the 50m Pistol individual event and helping India to bronze in the 25m Sports Pistol team event. The medals came only weeks after he made his international breakthrough with a silver in the 25m Sports Pistol junior men’s event at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Cairo in May.“My brother saw me playing marbles and hitting them with perfect aim.

He felt I had a natural talent for shooting and decided to put me into the sport,” Chandra Raj said, tracing the origin of his career back to those childhood games.He is the youngest of five siblings in a farming family, and his path has depended as much on sacrifice as on talent. His eldest brother, who had once wanted to be a sportsperson himself, gave up his own dreams to support the family and instead worked to ensure Chandra Raj could pursue his.

In 2018, he researched shooting academies, enrolled him in a training camp and later admitted him to a small academy in Bharatpur.Success came quickly, with medals at state and national competitions, but the family soon confronted the cost of an expensive sport. “There was financial stress, but my father and brother never let me think of quitting,” Chandra Raj said. The family eventually built a modest shooting range at home so he could continue training without interruption.A major turning point came in 2025, when he joined the Border Security Force under the sports quota. Training at the BSF’s Central School of Weapons and Tactics in Indore, he won his first international medal in Cairo before adding two more in Germany. Earlier this year, he also won one gold and one silver at the 19th All India Police Sports Shooting Championship.Inspired by Olympic shooter Jitu Rai and Asian Games medallist Sourabh Chaudhary, Chandra Raj now has a larger target in view. “My dream is to win an Olympic medal for India,” he said. The BSF Director General congratulated him, calling his success a proud moment for the force and the nation.