Tokyo Olympics: Jitu Rai backs Saurabh Chaudhary to win 10m air pistol medal

Former world championship medalist and Indian Olympian Jitu Rai has put his faith in young shooter Saurabh Chaudhary for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Rai said that Chaudhary is one of the brightest prospects of the Indian Olympics contingent heading to Tokyo. He also said that the shooter has a very realistic chance of bagging a medal for the country. The former Olympian also said that Chaudhary had the ability to beat the all-time great of South Korea, Jin Jong-On in the 10m air pistol event. Rai himself had secured a medal in his sport at the 2012 London Olympics, which was India’s most successful campaign in relation to the medal tally.

“Saurabh Chaudhary is something else”

“Saurabh Chaudhary is something else. I have seen him shoot and it’s not just about the medals he is winning, he is actually winning them with very high scores. And it’s no surprise that he is holding the world record at the moment,” Rai said to Indian news agency PTI. 

“You just need to look at the scores he registers. It is amazing how he does that so regularly and so well. I may have also won a lot of medals in international competitions but you can see that Saurabh’s scores are higher than what I was shooting. In Tokyo, if he scores 582-583 in the qualifications, 99 percent he is going to make the finals, and he can score more than that. Saurabh is surely one of the biggest prospects in the 10m air pistol event. He is quiet and reserved, fully focussed on the job at hand. He should win it in Tokyo,” the Olympian added.

Rai, however, warned that distractions ahead of the Games might not be what Chaudhary needs. He went on to advise the Indian shooters competing in Tokyo to be “extremely careful” during the time between qualifications and finals, as that is when one can falls prey to distraction.

“That is the time when the coaches are required to protect the shooters from all kinds of distraction because even the most minute of things can prove to be inimical to the chances of winning medals,” Rai said.

“I don’t know about myself in Rio, it’s very difficult to say. After a good qualification, I gave my best in the final but, somehow, it was not enough and it did not work out,” he added.