Pune: Amul Devakle knows the value of representing the country at the global level. While the former shooter himself could not play at the highest level, his daughter Ankita is fulfilling his dream. Amul, now a US citizen, is happy to see Ankita make it to the US squad for the Munich World Cup starting May 24. Ankita will represent the United States in the women’s 25m sports pistol competition.Ankita is the second Indian-origin shooter to be a part of the US team after Suman Singhera, who has represented the nation in several international competitions. Suman is also part of the Munich team.
“This is a proud moment for me. It is a dream come true to represent my country at the highest level. I am looking forward to give my best in a competition that will see the best of the sport,” Ankita told TOI from Ohio. Ankita will attend the event where one of her favorite shooters, I beg youwill also shoot. “I have a lot of respect for Manu, I saw his 25m at the Paris Games. I am excited to shoot in Munich,” she said.Ankita was born in the US while her father Amul moved to the country in the early 2000s. An IT professional, Amol was a shooter and competed in national level competitions before giving up the sport for a career. “I was born and brought up in Mumbai and represented Maharashtra in the 10m air rifle events in the late 1990s. But then I had to give up the sport for my career,” he said.Amul says that when he introduced Ankita to shooting after the Covid-19 outbreak, he didn’t think that far. “After the epidemic, I wanted to start shooting again. My friends here, who used to shoot rifles, switched to pistols. I even thought of resuming the sport but this time with pistols. I used to take my daughters Ankita and Anjali to the range. Ankita got interested and started shooting air pistol and later started in air pistol pick 250 in 1250. 2023, he added, “He began competing in state meets that year and his game improved when he joined the Ohio State University pistol team and began training under 1996 Atlantic Games silver medalist Emil Melio.“
