Asian Championships: Sarabjot Singh shoots down silver, gains Paris berth

New Delhi, October 24

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Pistol shooter Sarabjot Singh is happy that he has finally won an individual medal in a major international competition after grappling with a shoulder injury for more than six months.

The 22-year-old marksman clinched an individual bronze and with it a 2024 Paris Olympics quota place for India at the Asian Championships in Changwon, South Korea, today.

Sarabjot shot a 221.1 in the final to finish behind the Chinese duo of Zhang Yifan, who won gold with a 243.7, and Liu Jinyao (242.1) to earn the eighth Olympics quota place for the country in shooting and the first in pistol events.

The Indian men and women shooters have so far won five quota places in rifle, two in shotgun and one in pistol events.

Sarabjot, who bagged the men’s team gold and mixed team silver at the Hangzhou Asian Games recently, picked up the shoulder injury during the ISSF World Cup in Bhopal in March this year but is happy it is on the mend.

“I developed the injury during the World Cup in Bhopal. It was an impingement injury as my shoulder blade was rubbing against my collarbone, causing discomfort” Sarabjot said. “It happened over a period of time as we do only exercises specific to holding the pistol steady,” he said. “It’s on the mend and I hope to overcome it soon.”