You shoot like a girl can be a disconcerting jibe heard on gaming platforms around the world. A rare few are turning that jibe into a compliment. Saloni Pawar is among the rare Indian woman gamers breaking through the ranks of men dominating the nascent field of Esports in India.

Pawar reveals that she was hooked onto online gaming because of her brother, an ardent fan. “My brother used to play Counter Strike 1.6 (CS 1.6), I used to watch him play every day,” she recalls. Pawar tried her hand at it, and discovered she had a talent for it.