Chandigarh: DAV College shooter Sarabjot Singh seals Olympic berth

Chandigarh, October 24

Shooter Sarabjot Singh, a student of DAV College, Sector 10, got his Paris Olympics quota by winning the bronze medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event during the ongoing Asian Shooting Championship in Changwon, Korea. An MA student at DAV College, Sarabjot hails from Ambala and trains under coach Abhishek Rana.

He shot 221.1 in the final to finish behind the Chinese duo of Zhang Yifan (243.7) and Liu Jinyao (242.1) to earn the 8th Olympic quota place for India in shooting and the first in pistol events.

Sarabjot had earlier made it to the eight-shooter finals with a score of 581, which helped him clinch the eighth spot in the qualification round. With China having already bagged two Olympic quota places in the event, Sarabjot had his task cut out needing a high finish.

Each country can earn a maximum of two Olympic quota places per event in shooting sport. Sarabjot, winner of the men’s 10m air pistol team gold and mixed team silver at the Hangzhou Asian Games, shot to lead after the first five shots. The Indian pair was beaten by world champion marksman Zhang Bowen and compatriot Jiang Ranxin, who logged a 16-14 victory in the shoot-off for the top podium finish.

He had earlier won a gold medal each at the 53rd ISSF World Shooting Championship in Baku (Azerbaijan) and at ISSF World Cup in Bhopal. The other Indians in men’s 10m air pistol failed to make it to the finals. Varun Tomar (578) and Kunal Rana (577) finished 16th and 17th, while Shiva Narwal (576) was 20th and Saurabh Chaudhary (569) was 35th.