After suffering from injury concerns, Indian shooter Rahi Sarnobat fought back like a champion and became the first Indian woman shooter to clinch gold in Asian Games. Rahi, 27, won top honours in the women’s 25m air pistol event in a dramatic final that went to 2 shoot-off.
“An Olympic medal is the only thing which is left to achieve. So now the next (target) will be the (2020) Olympics,” she told PTI as reported by Times of India.
“I went to Olympic Games before but those are past now. Now it should be a podium finish (in Tokyo),” added Rahi, who hails from Kolhapur district.
Focus should be on physical and mental training- Sarnobat
“There are many things that I have to improve. Olympics is not easy. There pressure is completely different. You need to be psychologically and physically strong. Technically Indian shooters are now in very good shape. So now we have to focus more on mental and physical training,” she said.
Talking about the difficulties in Olympics
“2020 (Olympics) is quite far and its a big vision. But we have five Olympic qualification competitions and all are important as the competition will be tough and all shooters will try to qualify for the Games,” she said.
“These competitions will define where we are and what we can do or what we have to improve. It’s a journey, and we have to see where we are before the Olympics,” Sarnobat added.
She dedicated her Asian games gold medal to her Mangolia born German coach Munkhbayar Dorjsuren, who herself is a two time Olympic bronze medallist.
