New Delhi, Sept. 16 -- At 18, Aashima Ahlawat picked up a pistol before finding her calling in shotgun, a switch that came only after she held up her end of a deal with her mother, scoring well enough to get into her dream college. She delivered, with a 98.6% in her Class 12 board exams, proof that the range never came at the cost of the books. Four years on, the 22-year-old from Rohtak, Haryana, is set to make her maiden Asian Games appearance in Aichi Nagoya.

Her path to the sport wasn't a straight line. Coming from a business family rooted in construction, it was watching the 2018 Commonwealth Games that truly pulled her toward shooting.

"Seeing Manu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu on that stage, I remember thinking, I want to feel that somed...