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Sarabjot adds another feather in DAV College’s cap with team shooting gold at Asiad
An MA student at DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh, Sarabjot was in blazing form along with his team mates; incidentally, Manu Bhaker is also a student of DAV College
It’s raining medals in shooting for India at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.
After shooters Sift Samra and Manu Bhaker won medals on Wednesday, fans woke up to the news of the Indian shooting team, comprising Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Singh Cheema and Shiva Narwal, narrowly beating the Chinese team to take the top podium in the men’s 10m air pistol and earn India its fourth gold medal from the shooting ranges.
The Indian trio’s aggregate score of 1734 was just one better than the Chinese team, which settled for the silver medal, while Vietnam, with a score of 1730, bagged the bronze.
An MA student at DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh, Sarabjot was in blazing form along with his team mates. Incidentally, Manu Bhaker is also a student of the same college.
The 22-year-old’s proud parents Jatinder Singh, a farmer, and Hardeep Kaur, a homemaker, learnt that their son had won gold when his coach Abhishek Rana dialled them at 6.30 am.
“We don’t understand the sport much, but it is always coach Rana who explains to us the technicalities about Sarabjot’s competitions. My son has always been sincere towards the sport and focused on his goal,” said an elated Jatinder.
Sarabjot trains under coach Rana at Ambala Cantt-based AR Shooting Academy in Central Phoenix Club.
Hailing from Dheen village in Ambala’s Barara block, Sarabjot had earlier won gold at the 53rd ISSF World Shooting Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan, a few months ago and at ISSF World Cup in Bhopal as well.
Sarabjot first grabbed headlines when he had won two gold medals at the 2019 Asian Airgun Championships held in Taiwan. Since then, there has been no looking back for the shooter.
He had to skip the Senior World Championship in New Delhi in March 2021 after testing positive for Covid-19, his coach said.
“He has been getting professional training here since 2016 along with 30 players. The sport requires the highest level of concentration and he has always been consistent. Even during the pandemic, we didn’t let our guard down and I set up a small shooting range in my farm for his practice,” said Rana, also a former international shooter.
