Manavjit hopes to be 5th time lucky
Four- time silver medallist, Manavjit Singh Sandhu is leaving no stone unturned in his quest to improve on the colour of his medal at the Incheon Asian Games next month.
Before that, however, the trap shooter has another big task on hand — securing a berth for the Rio Olympics at the World Championships in Granada, Spain, starting September 6.
Post his bronze- medal effort at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Manavjit worked rigorously with his long- time coach Marcello Bardi in Italy for almost three weeks, know- ing the level of competition that awaits him.
“Sportsmen needs to work continuously. There is no stopping somewhere to polish, somewhere to brush up. I worked very hard with my coach following the CWG. It has lot to do with equipment and to a minor extent with technique ... rethink and reboot. Its kind of brushing up my old technique as well as experiencing new ones,” Manavjit told this paper before leaving for Granada.
“The Asian Games is probably the most highpressure event after the Olympics. It will all be about how we handle the pressure on a particular day. I am really focussed to do well.
“Kuwait and China will be the toughest competitors in my category,” he said of the Incheon challenge.
For Manavjit, taking one step at a time is his mantra to success.
“I don’t set long- term goals, it’s one tournament at a time. At the moment, I am just thinking about the Asiad. I will surely try to win a gold. But for this, the important thing will be to go with good form and try to get into the finals. Other factors will then fall in place,” the former world no. one trap shooter said of his targets going into his fifth Asian Games.
“After the Asiad, the focus will be on Rio, so the World Championships are also crucial as we have to secure our quota places.”
Asked what didn’t click for him in his CWG campaign, the pointed out: “We had to shoot under the new ISSF rules, where you don’t take your qualifying score into the final. The final itself is short, as we get only 15 targets.
“So if you lose initially, it is very difficult to recover. Many of our shooters are getting used to it, and hopefully till the Asiad we will be able to master the art.
“After the Asiads, the focus will be on Rio ... get our quota places and go ahead for the Olympics, that’s the pinnacle,” said the Punjab- born shooter, who hopes to participate in a couple of Asiad in the coming years.