After Bindra, another German hand produces a champion in Rahi

PALEMBANG: There is something about Germans and historic moments in Indian shooting.

It was a German, the legendary Gaby Buhlmann, at the helm when Abhinav Bindra became India’s first and till now the only individual Olympic gold medallist back in 2008.

Ten years later, another German hand, Munkhbayar Dorjsuren, played a pivotal role as Rahi Sarnobat became the first Indian woman shooter to win a gold at the Asian Games on Wednesday.

Rahi fell just short of saying that Wednesday’s performance would not have been possible if it was not for Dorsjuren, former Olympic medallist, world champion.

Dorsjuren is originally a Mongolian who moved to Germany and claimed an Olympic bronze for the country back in 2008, the same year Bindra scripted history for Indian shooting.

“It is like a mother-daughter relationship. Her daugh- ter is nearly my age. We have been together for almost a year,” said Rahi, who rushed to hug Dorsjuren after winning a tense shoot-out in the final. The coach kissed her in return.

Dorsjuren has instilled a champion mindset in Rahi and it was on full display with the Pune-resident not giving up till the final shot.

“She has achieved a lot so her attitude towards competition and performance is really different and that matters a lot. More than the technical things, these things matter,” said the 27-year-old who is a deputy collector in Maharashtra.

Rahi had not won a major medal since the Commonwealth Games gold in 2014.

An elbow injury which she picked up even before Glasgow set her back for the next two years.

After taking a seven-month break in 2016, she had to try something different. In came Dorsjuren but she came at a huge price.

“I came to know that she retired after 25 years of her career. We had one trial training camp in July last year. After that I decided to hire her as personal coach. Of course she is expensive and I can’t afford her with the salary I get. I have been getting support from OGQ but that is also not enough. So I have been using the cash awards I got after winning in Glasgow,” said the soft-spoken shooter, who hopes to be in the central government’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme after on Wednesday.