This is a conversation with Priyal Keni, an athlete who has represented India at International Shooting competitions. She is a Chartered Accountant by profession.
Having won +117 medals & broken three national records, she represented the great Indian athlete story across four countries & multiple international championships, with career-best performances at International Shooting Competitions & World Championships. Consistently ranked #1 in +40 matches during her 7-year stint with the Indian shooting team, Priyal was conferred the Shiv Chatrapati Award in 2015 (the highest honour for sport in Maharashtra).
In this conversation, we dive into the following:
- Her origin in the world of Rifle Sports
- Experimenting with multiple sports and using different skills to compete
- Initial wins and the turning point that put her on the fast track for rifle shooting
- Physical requirements and reflexes to compete well
- Situational and mental preparation for competitions
- Learning from others
- The first time she broke a National record
- What is the zone, and how does it works
- How to stay focused
- How sports influences other areas of life especially learning in children
- Her work with the Play & Shine Foundation
Priyal's Bio
In an international rifle shooting career spanning seven years, Priyal has rewritten social perceptions with her quintessential “woman with a gun & on a mission” image.
Having won +117 medals & broken three national records, she represented the great Indian athlete story across four countries & multiple international championships, with career-best performances at International Shooting Competitions & World Championships. Consistently ranked #1 in +40 matches during her 7-year stint with the Indian shooting team, Priyal was conferred the Shiv Chatrapati Award in 2015 (the highest honour for sport in Maharashtra).
Priyal is a community change-maker on a mission to foster a sports culture in India. Her 2018 founded non-profit initiative, “Play & Shine Foundation”, has actively worked with +500 volunteers across 10 states pan India & touched lives of 4,000+ children from underserved communities. Given her meteoric rise as an Indian sociopreneur, Priyal spearheads sport for development projects with the TATA Sustainability Group, Teach for India, Decathlon, Robin Hood Army, C.R.Y & the Education Board of Maharashtra to solve the issue of access to sport at the grassroots. She aims to reach a transnational impact of 1 million children by 2030.
Selected as a McKinsey NGWL Women Leader 2020, Priyal is 1 of India's top 15 women social entrepreneurs handpicked for SHAKTI's Incubation Program founded by a Harvard alumnus & funded by Facebook.
A 3X TEDx speaker, she was the 1st Indian to speak on “Sports for Sustainability” on TEDx, & has delivered lectures to over 200 students at the National Academy of Sports Management & the MBA-ESG Business School.
A Chartered Accountant by qualification, Priyal enjoys creative problem solving and working on consulting projects at the intersection of finance & digital transformation at Deloitte Consulting. She was the sole Indian spokesperson at the Global Woman in Consulting event organized by Deloitte Netherlands.
During her free time, Priyal mentors students via LinkedIn & Unacademy (India's largest edtech platform). Passionately working in sport and sustainability ecosystems, she has been an advisor to JSW Sports, UPACA, Sangath & the United Nations Youth India.
Media Mentions: India Today, ToI, Hindu, Hindustan times, Deccan Chronicle, Forbes.
Priyal can be reached at [email protected]
https://www.priyalkeni.com/