After playing an encounter specialist in the film Ab Tak Chappan, Bollywood actor Nana Patekar is now set to take part in the qualifying rounds of the National Shooting Championships.

Inspired by Major Rajyavardhan Rathore's silver medal at the recently concluded Athens Olympic Games, Nana will participate in the GV Mavalankar qualifying tournament in Coimbatore. The event will help identify contestants for the National Shooting Championships to be held in Indore in October this year.

According to shooter Ashok Pandit, Nana has decided to enter in the .22 bore Free Rifle category. The critically acclaimed filmstar has already taken part in state-level games before this.

While Nana's interest in competitive shooting is quite recent, he is said to be very serious about it and practices for hours at the Worli shooting range.

An official of the Maharashtra Rifles Association said that Nana was keen to participate in the Air Rifle category, but was unable to qualify for the same.