Shooter Mehuli has a different target in mind!

Kolkata, November 24: Promising rifle shooter Mehuli Ghosh is keeping quite these days as she prefers her ammunition to do all the talking.

The youngster is fine tuning her preparations for the 10th Asian Airgun Championships to be held in Wako City, Japan, from December 6 to 12.

The Wako event, which a qualification meet for the Youth Olympic Games, will be Mehuli's third international meet.

She first showed glimpses of her potential by finishing seventh in an international junior championship in the Czech Republic in May.

Among 123 competitors in Plzen, the 17-year-old was the only Indian to qualify for the final round in the 10M air rifle event. Mehuli's total score in the qualification round was 415.2.

Then she competed in the Junior World Championship in Germany, where Mehuli could manage only a 17th place finish.

So as she gets ready for her third event, Mehuli hopes to put good use of the experience she gained from competing in the Czech Republic and Germany.

"I'm focusing more on mental strength and concentration. Those are the two big attributes that you need to succeed at the top level. My coach Olympian Jaydeep Karmakar sir has also been telling me the same," said Mehuli.

Mehuli has also been trying her luck in the 50M prone event along with her pet 10M air rifle. And as parts of her efforts to increase her concentration levels more, Mehuli has started listening to music before she enters any crucial competition.

Mehuli began this routine after she returned from Junior Worlds and took part in the National Championship in Pune.

"I've been listening flute over my headphone for half-an-hour before any competition. Previously I used to listen to old Hindi songs before major events. But after the last Pune Nationals, I've observed that listening to flute is helping me a lot to make my mind calm. I'm able to improve my concentration and perform better," Mehuli said.

The results are showing. Mehuli accumulated 420.5 points in the national team selection trial for Japan, the best in country's recent history in 10M air rifle.

"It should be Indian classical music. I've gone through several Indian classical flutes through internet. Hariprasad Chawrasia has touched me the most. I'll listen to his flute now. It'll help me a lot in future," Mehuli dwelled further.