SM Yugan, a 12-year-old from Coimbatore, has bagged two gold medals at the 14th South Zone Shotgun Championship 2023. He has bagged one gold in junior men category and one gold in senior men category. Yugan is the youngest trap shooter in the state and is in the seventh grade at SSVM World School, Coimbatore
Earlier, he had bagged three individual gold medals at the 49th Tamil Nadu State Shooting Championship Competition shotgun event held in Chennai.
Yugan is a keen trap shooter practising at the Kongunadu Rifle Club in Vellakovil. He participated in the trap event under four categories (NR Jr Men, NR Sr Men, IST Jr Men and IST Sr Men) and bagged gold in three of those. In addition to this, his team of three shooters from Kongunadu Rifle Club also bagged a gold medal in the Senior Category. He has been declared the youngest shooter in the state currently.
His inspiration for coming into the field of sports shooting was His Highness Rajah R Rajagopala Tondaiman and R Prithviraj Tondaiman, currently World No.3 in Men’s Trap. He is coached by Olympian Shooter Mansher Singh.