There’s a certain charm in speaking to Sarabjot Singh moments after he secured a bronze medal with Manu Bhaker in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the Paris Olympics. The victory hasn’t fully sunk in, and he’s oblivious to the life-altering impact it will have. Right now, his mind is still at the Olympic shooting center in Chateauroux, a French town situated 300 kilometers from Paris, a world away from his old life in India. He’s unsure if his friend ‘Poppy,’ a car enthusiast who often modifies vehicles, will be there to pick him up at the airport. “Sometimes, my friends say they’ll pick me up, but other times they don’t confirm,” he says. Sarabjot’s friends share his passion for cars. Unlike many athletes competing at the Olympics, he never changed his phone’s wallpaper to reflect his Olympic goals. The image isn’t of the Olympic rings or a Paris medal like many of his colleagues. It’s a picture of his dream car – a BMW M2. As the financial rewards for an Olympic medalist in India start to pour in, there’s no doubt about his future driving experience. But not all memories from this medieval French town are pleasant for Sarabjot. A few days ago, he narrowly missed out on a spot in the final of the 10m men’s air pistol event. A year earlier, he didn’t even make it to Chateauroux, failing to qualify for the Indian team that came for Olympic preparatory training. He missed out after dealing with an injury caused by overzealous training as a young athlete. “I had just competed at the Bhopal World Cup where I’d won a gold medal. Then, when I woke up after that, I couldn’t move my shooting arm,” he recalls. It took months of therapy to heal. “I couldn’t even lift a pistol at the start. When I started shooting again, I’d make five shots and then ice my arm before continuing,” he says. Recovery was slow, painful, and uncertain. Eventually, he competed at the Asian Games, where he finished fourth, and then the Asian Olympic qualifiers, winning a quota for the Paris Games, all with a still-healing arm. “I was in constant pain,” he admits. These were, he says, the most challenging days of his life. Despite his talent – he won gold at the Junior World Championships at 17 – no one could fault him for feeling discouraged. For many in his small village of Dhindsa, located 40 kilometers from Haryana’s Ambala, their aspirations are different. “All of my family is outside the country. My uncles and aunts are abroad. My grandparents are abroad. Even my younger brother is studying in Canada,” he says. Sarabjot, however, always wanted to stay. “The rest of my family is here. I always wanted to stay in India. I wanted to do something for the country,” he says. That ‘something’ was always going to be shooting, a sport he took up at 14. Sarabjot’s father, Jatinder Singh, a farmer, believed in him and raised money through loans to buy a pistol. Training wasn’t always easy. The academy run by former shooter turned coach Abhishek Rana, where he trained in Ambala, was a 40-minute journey from home. He made this journey every day without fail. “Sarabjot was my first student. He’s also my most dedicated one. There was never a time where he’d turn up late for training, even if it meant travelling by bus and being pushed and shoved the whole way,” says Rana. Sarabjot remembers those days well. “I didn’t enjoy it,” he admits honestly. “For the first four years that I did it, I didn’t enjoy it. I was very grateful when my father finally got a car and I could drive to training,” he says. Even later, when results started to come in – Junior World gold in 2019, followed by Asian team gold in 2023 – things didn’t change immediately. That was how his coach wanted it too. “He bought a Scorpio with the money, but I made sure that he gave that car to his father. I made him drive his father’s old Swift D’zire instead. I wanted him to maintain the hunger to succeed,” says Rana. That hunger has now been somewhat satisfied at Chateauroux. For Sarabjot, this is a magical journey that’s just begun. “This is just the start for me. I’ll do even better at Los Angeles 2028,” he says.
Indian Shooter Sarabjot Singh Wins Bronze at Paris Olympics, Dreams of BMW M2
