Paris Olympics 2024 is approaching and among the contingent of 117 athletes, India is sending a strong contingent of 21 shooters to compete for medals in Shooting.
India has a commendable history in Olympic shooting, with four medals to its name. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore started this trend with a silver at Athens 2004. The tally includes one gold, two silvers, and one bronze. However, the last shooting medals were won in 2012 by Gagan Narang (bronze) and Vijay Kumar (silver).
Despite a decent history in World Cups and World Championships, India’s performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was disappointing. Only one shooter, Saurabh Chaudhary, managed to reach the finals.
InsideSport spoke with former shooter Ronjan Sodhi. He is hopeful of India’s chances. He said, “We’ll get medals for sure. 21 shooters have qualified and we’ll definitely get medals.”
Pressure on Shooters
When asked if there was added pressure on the shooters, Sodhi said, “Shooting is a sport which is more in our head than anything else, so we cannot predict the exact number of medals. We’ll come back with a good number of medals.”
He further compared the pressure in shooting to that in cricket, “Well, do you think there’s no pressure in cricket? Imagine how many watch cricket and shooting. Half of the people don’t even know what shooting is. If we can win a World Cup, then surely we can handle the pressure and bring a medal home.” Sodhi added.
Hopes Beyond Shooting
Aside from shooting, Sodhi is also optimistic about Neeraj Chopra, predicting that he will bring home a medal again this time.
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