Chateauroux, Jul 30 (IANS): After Sarabjot Singh's historic bronze medal win in the Paris Olympics, the shooter's coach Abhishek Rana has revealed that was confident because his ward has always returned with a medal from every event he participated in. Sarabjot, partnering with Manu Bhaker, won bronze in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event after beating South Korea 16-10 on Tuesday.
"I have been with Sarabjot since day one. It is a matter of great happiness for me that we won the bronze medal today. We have participated in numerous national and international tournaments, and Sarabjot has never returned empty-handed from any event," Rana told IANS.
Last year, Sarabjot won gold in the 10m Air Pistol Men's team event and silver in the Mixed Team in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. He also won multiple medals on the international stage across junior and senior levels.
He has won a bronze medal in the 10m Air Pistol Individual event along with Olympics 2024 quota place for the country at the 2023 Asian Championship in Korea, a gold medal in the Individual event at the 2023 World Cup in Bhopal and gold in the Mixed Team event at the 2023 World Cup in Baku.
Sarabjot also won one gold in the Team event and two silver medals in the Individual and Mixed Yeam competition at the 2022 Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, before winning two gold medals in the Team & Mixed Team events at the 2021 Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru.
"We began training in 2016, and in 2017, Sarabjot won his first medal, a bronze, at the nationals. After that, he won 5-6 medals consecutively at the nationals. In 2019, he became the Junior World Champion and continued to win medals consistently. Till today the journey has been fascinating," said Rana.
The 22-year-old, Sarabjot, who was playing his maiden Olympics, is now the sixth Indian shooter to win a medal at the Summer Games.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore — Athens 2004, Abhinav Bindra — Beijing 2008, Vijay Kumar — London 2012, Gagan Narang — London 2012, and Manu Bhaker – Paris 2024 are the other shooters to have won medals at the Olympics.