Asian Games 2026: From cricket bat to shotgun, Mairaj's sporting journey
There was a time when Mairaj Ahmad Khan dreamed of making it big with a cricket bat.
More than three decades later, the 50-year-old is still chasing sporting glory -- only now with a shotgun firmly in his grip.
From Khurja in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district to shooting ranges around the world, Mairaj's journey has taken him places he could never have imagined when he first stepped into the world of sport.
At the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, he will be the second-oldest member of the Indian contingent, behind equestrian Shruti Vora, and will compete at his fourth continental games.
Yet, shooting was never supposed to be his destiny.
"I was playing cricket when it all started in 1994," Mairaj recalls.
A left-handed top-order batter who usually came in at No.
3, he represented Uttar Pradesh in the CK Nayudu and Vinoo Mankad Trophy competitions before joining Jamia Millia Islamia in 1996.
He played inter-university cricket and also featured in the Vizzy Trophy.
Among his university
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.business-standard.com — the content belongs to Business Standard.
