Saurabh: Steadfast teen who outshotanolympiclegend
15yearold outclasses Korean Olympic great Jin Jongoh to be youngest Indian medallist
for a second did the Rohtak boy complain.
Rajput realised his dream of an individual Asian Games medal in 50m rifle three-position after three unsuccessful attempts, which saw him managing two bronze and a silver in the team category.
It was sheer providence that he could not win gold despite being so near the summit, losing to China’s Hui Zicheng by just 0.6 points.
Meanwhile, Saurabh went through his routine in a cool, calculated manner, biding his time before taking his shots to ensure every single pellet earned him a good score.
He had made his intentions clear in the qualification round itself where he scored 586 to Jong-oh’s 584. Barring one poor series of 10 shots (in the third series) where the Meerut boy had a 93, he was immaculate in the other five series, shooting 99, 99, 98, 98 and 99.
Saurabh was solid in the finals too, and barring a slight setback when Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda pushed him to second after the Indian had two poor shots of 9.0 and 9.6, he was back on track. He momentarily fell to third after the third elimination series, when Abhishek took the second spot, but from then on he lifted his game to keep moving up, the only blemish – a 9.8 -coming in the sixth series of the elimination round.
Later during the media interaction, he opened up just a wee bit. “I’ve only trained for a few weeks at the senior national camp. There was no pressure on me. Had I entertained those thoughts, I wouldn’t have won gold,” said Saurabh, weighing each word before speaking.
Saurabh wasn’t game for some interesting conversation, but what he achieved on Tuesday was beyond a million words.