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New Delhi: For five years from 2018, Saurabh Chaudhary would hold his Morini pistol so steady and shoot with such precision that it was assumed the prodigiously talented youngster would always win an Olympic medal for India.
Multiple gold medals in World Cups, Asian Games title, world records, world No.1 – they kept coming. Until the Tokyo Olympics where he topped the qualification in 10m air pistol with a score of 586, but finished seventh in the final. Then came the big slump in 2022-23 followed by his exit from the national team.
At the National Championships here, Saurabh finally regained his touch – the feeling of firing a good shot. In the 10m air pistol qualification, the 22-year-old shot a brilliant 591, smashing the national record. The high series of 99, 97, 99, 99, 98 and 99 was like the Saurabh of old.
On Sunday, he was competing in a domestic final for the first time since 2021 and Saurabh admitted it was a different feeling. Though he finished fifth in the final, he was optimistic that exciting times are ahead.
“It is not about the scores but the confidence with which you execute your shots that matters. I felt like finally I was getting that confidence back when I made the national record in qualification. It takes a long time to understand which areas you are lacking, even if it is right in front of your eyes,” Saurabh told HT.
“I was also competing in one event after another and wasn’t getting the time to work on my shooting. The time away from the team has helped me to train better.”
Five years ago, the shy teenager struggled to express himself. Someone who hardly saw the world beyond his modest house in Kalina village, Baghpat, Saurabh was uncomfortable with the spotlight on him. Fighting through the challenging phase, he discovered much more about his shooting and personality.
Nobody knows him better that Samaresh Jung, one of India’s finest pistol shooters who is the national pistol coach. Jung stood by Saurabh even when he was out of the national squad. “He has become mature and sensible. Earlier, he was just doing things without understanding. Now he knows much more about technical things and also about himself,” Jung told HT.
Saurabh trusts Jung. One of the things Jung told him was to not over train. “I told him not to put too many hours (in training) or else it will cause burnout. Once you are away from the firing point, do something else. It’s not a physical sport, it’s a mental sport.”
Coaches at the High Performance Centre in SAI, NCOE (National Centre of Excellence) here pitched in to recommend Saurabh’s name for the residential facility at the Karni Singh Range.
“It can be mentally overwhelming for a shooter like him when he achieves so much success at a young age. What he needed was people around him who could guide him along the way. Everyone had an opinion about his shooting and that was causing him confusion. He is a simple guy and just needed that assurance about his craft,” says Deepak Dubey, who was High Performance coach, Khelo India, when Saurabh joined the NCOE in 2023.
A Railways job last year gave him the financial security he was looking for. “Since childhood, I am into shooting. I never got time to think of anything else. The job just freed up my mind,” says Saurabh.
On Jung’s advice, Saurabh now trains at NCOE and at home. “I don’t want him to be around the range 24 hours. I have asked him to focus on his studies. It’s not as if when you have nothing to do, “chalo shooting kar lete hai” (let’s do some shooting),” says Jung.
“In a way the time away from the Indian team has helped him to train well and get back. Or else there was always pressure to give result.” Manu Bhaker, after her twin medals at the Paris Olympics, wished her original mixed event partner soon gets back to the highest level in the sport.
It is a new start for Saurabh, who will aim to do well in the two trials next month and reclaim his place in the Indian team. “He doesn’t complicate things. He is special for the sheer consistency from 2018-2022. It’s a relief to see him comeback,” says Jung.
