Sarabjot Singh has been the face saver for India at recent ISSF World Cups.
Last year, he was the country’s lone gold medallist in Bhopal; in Munich on Thursday, the 22-year-old was the redeemer again in men’s 10m air pistol. Till his gold, India was medalless in the ongoing competition, which ends Saturday.
India could be in line for more medals on Friday after Olympic-bound shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Sift Kaur Samra qualified for the finals in men and women’s 50m rifle three positions respectively.
Along with bringing national pride, Sarabjot did himself a huge favour by finishing on a high in his last competition before the Paris Olympics next month.
It was as if the 10m range in Munich belonged to Sarabjot, leading from the qualification stage till the final shot was fired in the final.
With a qualification score of 588, Sarabjot, also the Olympic quota winner in the event, topped the eight qualifiers. The other Olympic-bound shooter in this event, Arjun Singh Cheema, finished 10th with 582. Asian Champion Varun Tomar was a rung below Arjun.
Sarabjot looked in control in the final too but the shaky close saw his lead dwindle to 0.2. It was the cushion he built early on that ensured gold was his with 242.7. China’s Bu Shuaihang settled for silver with 242.5 (587) and Germany’s Robin Walter the bronze with 220 (586).
In a short span, Sarabjot’s career spike has been commendable.
In fact, given his form at the start of last year, the Baku World Championships in August should have been a high point but it turned out otherwise as he finished 18th and also failed to make the medal round in mixed team.
It was also in Baku that Sarabjot had won the mixed team gold at the ISSF World Cup.
At the Hangzhou Asian Games, Sarabjot teamed up with Arjun and Shiva Narwal to bag the gold in 10m air pistol team. It became a memorable 22nd birthday as he teamed up with Divya TS for silver in mixed team.
Amid the highs, Sarabjot hit a low note in Hangzhou. The 4th finish in the individual event was a comedown, but the athlete in Sarabjot stepped up quickly.
He made that miss look like a blip when he won India’s first Olympic quota in pistol with bronze at the Asian Championships in Changwon soon after the Asian Games.
At the recent Olympic Selection Trials across New Delhi and Bhopal to select the Indian 10m air pistol team for Paris, Sarabjot topped with a final average of 582.43 to finish ahead of Arjun Cheema (582.37) and Varun Tomar (580.53).
The confidence was on show in Munich again, and the Sarabjot’s gold bodes well as India gets ready to unleash its shooting prowess in Paris.