Back in 2012, Groves had a foil in hand, as he enjoyed the fiercely European art of combat.

But a change of fortune to the pistol has seen the 18-year-old ranked as Australia’s most promising shooting prospect since Russell Mark.

Groves is preparing for the Oceania Continental Championships at Sydney’s International Shooting Centre for eight days from November 26.

It also leads into the Shooting Australia Junior Championships that the AMC university student is favoured to collect a swag of gold.

But Groves admits he could easily be lost to another Olympic sport down the track.

‘‘I do have an interest in pentathlon, but if I could learn how to ride a horse I would be there,’’ he said.

The modern pentathlon contests shooting, fencing, swimming, running and equestrian.

‘‘I tick all the boxes except for horse riding because I am a good swimmer and a good runner,’’ Groves said.

‘‘I haven’t tried horse-riding, but my dad is already a champion of it - so I should get him to teach me.’’

Groves only came to the recognition of national shooting coaches less than two years ago and was fast-tracked into the Australian high performance squad.

The shock inclusion into his first Oceania championships soon after has given Groves the confidence that the 2016 Olympic Games is realistic.

‘‘First championships was out of the blue, as I only just started,’’ he said.

‘‘So I was a bit of a wildcard then.

‘‘I worked really hard to get into and made all of the men’s teams for my events, which no one else (in our current squad) has done - that was a big deal.

‘‘So I feel good, I feel like I will at least try my best, but hopefully win.’’

Groves will be well placed in the 10m air pistol, 50m free pistol and 25m rapid fire events.

He was ranked number one in the country in two of the events, but slipped down the pecking order when uni commitments took priority.

But his first priority is to win a quota place for the Australian shooting team at the Rio games - before returning for the Australia Cup competitions in February and March that act as Olympic qualifiers to secure a spot on the plane to Brazil.

‘‘I just have to win a spot for someone to go to Rio first,’’ Groves said.

‘‘You are a big part of this (Australia) team thing ... so I would like to at least give the opportunity for someone to go.’’