City-based shooter Rishav Bhowmik has been selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as one of their Young Leaders for 2021-24.

Rishav is among the twenty-five youths who have been selected from 350 international applicants by the IOC for this project.

The IOC Young Leaders programme, launched in 2016, is geared at helping the youth to use the power of sport to make a positive difference in their communities. The 25 people selected for 2021-24 will have to come up with a sports-based social business idea which will be funded and guided by the IOC.

Rishav, a 25-year-old architect, is a trainee of the Joydeep Karmakar Schooting Academy (JKSA).

"I am really blessed and honoured to be selected as the IOC Young Leader from India... Being the only Indian is a big responsibility and I hope to make the country proud with my project," Rishav said.

"I was always interested in shooting and so once my architectural course was done, I joined JKSA in 2018. I am a national level shooter now and I realised that I wanted to base my career in sports and sports management."

Rishav is still working on the basic structure of his project. "It is still in the planning stage. But by 2024 I have to get the project up and running. The IOC will support it through grassroot funding as well as providing consultation," he said.

"I had heard about the IOC Young Leader project in October 2020. The selection process included a 'six week learning sprint'. We were taught the basics of social business and what we could create in order to help our community. We had to then make a video application. In my application I tried to develop the idea as to how poverty and inequality could be countered by sports.

"I was lucky that I got selected. Now my project plans are still at a nascent stage. The first year is dedicated in creating the business plan. I know that I have been given a huge opportunity and will make full use of this to help my community," he added.