Rahi Sarnobat, who became the first Indian woman to win gold in 25m pistol event, owes it to coach Dorjsuren handpicked by not-for-profit organisation
Rahi Sarnobat poses with her gold medal at Palembang yesterday. Pic/PTI
Kolhapur's Rahi Sarnobat, 27, yesterday became the first Indian woman shooter to win an individual gold medal at an Asian Games when she edged past Thailand's Naphaswan Yangpaiboon to win top honours in the 25m pistol event. She won it via a dramatic shoot-out in Palembang yesterday. Moments after the win, even as the euphoria among Indian mediapersons and contingent members here hadn't settled, Sarnobat expressed her gratitude via Twitter to two very important aspects in her life.
First, Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), a not for profit organisation for the promotion of sports, and secondly, her personal coach Munkhbayar Dorjsuren. "This gold has come after months of gruelling hard work. I want to thank @OGQ_India for believing in me and supporting me through the years and my coach #munkhbayardorjsuren who has worked equally hard for my medal," she wrote.
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Rahi Sarnobat with coach Munkhbayar Dorjsuren (right)
Interestingly, all four of India's gold medallists at this Games so far — wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat and shooters, Saurabh Chaudhary and Sarnobat — are supported by OGQ. Not just this, OGQ has even taken the effort to individually scout three of the four personal coaches associated with these champions — Bajrang's coach is Georgia's Emzario Bentinidis, Vinesh's coach is Hungaryian Woller Akos and Sarnobat's coach is former Mongolian-German shooter Dorjsuren.
Dorjsuren, a six-time Olympian, won a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona and 2008 Beijing Games, besides two gold medals at two World Championships (in 1998 and 2002), was destined to coach Sarnobat. India's junior pistol coach Jaspal Rana had first shown interest in roping in Dorjsuren's services for the Junior India team but as fate would have it, she ended up with Sarnobat instead.
"I wanted to bring Dorjsuren to train our junior team because firstly, she's a lady and there are a lot of young female shooters in our squad. Secondly, she is an accomplished name, so there was no doubting her credentials," Rana, a four-time Asian Games gold medal-winning pistol ace, told mid-day here yesterday.
However, Rana could not manage to get Dorjsuren. "It so happened that it took a little time to get government clearances and complete other formalities, so eventually her appointment didn't materialise. But I'm glad that she joined Rahi as her personal coach because the results are there for all to see. Rahi shot brilliantly today, especially in the shoot-off, where she held her nerve right up to the end," added Rana.
After both shooters finished on a tied 34 at the end of the last round, in the ensuing tie-breaker, both missed a shot each in Round One. However, in the final shoot-off, Yangpaiboon missed thrice, while Rahi got four out of her five shots on target to clinch the yellow metal.
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