The under-fire Indian shooting contingent heaved a sigh of relief when Sodhi broke their jinx by winning the yellow metal on the final day of the shooting event.
“This one is for my son, Suryaveer.” A beaming Ronjan Singh Sodhi declared after winning the gold medal in the double trap event on Sunday.
“I had asked my two and half year old son, before leaving, ‘what do you want from China?’ and he said: ‘medal’. I dedicate my gold to him.”
The under-fire Indian shooting contingent heaved a sigh of relief when Sodhi broke their jinx by winning the yellow metal on the final day of the shooting event.
In the process he proved that if you have the desire and the will to work for it, you can achieve success no matter how big the odds are. While the rest of the Indian shooting contingent basked in the Commonwealth Games glory, Sodhi set his mind on doing well in the Asian Games.
The main reason being attributed for the Indian shooters poor show here is the lack of time after the CWG, Sodhi showed them how it should have been done.
“Basically, I stayed away from all the unnecessary things. The very next day after the CWG, I left to train in Italy. I did not attend any felicitation function. I am very happy that it has been fruitful,” Sodhi told DNA after his triumph here.
“A lot of people told me that you have to meet the prime minister and the president. It would have taken the focus away from shooting and the gap was very less for the Asian Games, that’s the reason I went away.
“Shooting is so much of a mental sport, you need to wind down and start fresh again.”
Winning gold was a special feeling said Sodhi. “I am very happy to bring India the first gold in shooting. Last week lot of things were being written against our contingent so it’s all the more satisfying.”
Talking about his performance in the final, where he was three points behind the Chinese at the start of the final and won by four points with a score of 139, Sodhi said, “In the final you shoot against each other, it is neck-and-neck fight, the mindset is completely different. In the World Cup too I did well in the final, and have been shooting very strongly in the finals. I did the same here as well.”
He said it’s about the winning mentality: “After you reach a certain standard, your mindset changes to shoot to win. And you train accordingly. In the final we shot at flash targets. In Italy, I did a lot of practice on flash targets and it helped.”
Sodhi said the gold was up there with his World Cup win in Turkey before CWG. “The Asian Games win will be right up there. It is very important for the people back home. Something which is very close to my heart is the World Cup win (2010) and this gold will be there with it.”
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