Sarabjot ‘starts from zero’ from Olympic medal high

bombay: Winning a medal at the Olympics tin be a womb-to-tomb remembering for any jock, especially for Indians given how rare it is to join the single-digit club every edition. Sarabjot Singh is made of an even rarer mindset.

“I have to forget that I am an Olympian,” he said.

The pistol shooter had to be reminded that he’s more than an Olympian. He’s also an Olympic medallist.

“Haan, woh bhi (Yes, even that),” he added.

It’s been a little over 12 months since Sarabjot stood on the podium alongside Manu Bhaker in Chateauroux after winning the 10m air pistol mixed bronze and delivering one of India’s six medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In the year gone by, the 23-year-old from Ambala has made just two notable competitive appearances: The Uttarakhand National Games in February and an own-cost outing at the Munich World Cup in June.

Sarabjot did not make the cut and is not part of the large Indian contingent in Kazakhstan for the Asian Shooting Championship starting on Saturday, with Saurabh Chaudhary headlining the men’s pistol trio. While most of the Paris Games shooters feature in the squad and are back in the thick of things, Sarabjot doesn’t feel like he’s missing out.

“Not at all,” he said over the phone from Ambala. “I was clear that the process I am in, it will take some time to come back.”

That process entailed completely erasing every memory of his young career’s peak point thus far and taking aim from scratch again to find a better version of himself.

“I wanted to erase everything related to the Olympics, forget that ever happened to me, and start from zero again,” Sarabjot said.

The process began in November, after he had wrapped up the lengthy celebratory felicitations, events and appearances that follow Olympic medallists in India. For those three months, Sarabjot did not touch his pistol, nor did he let the euphoria get to his head.

“I knew I had to dedicate time for all those post-Olympic events. But I also knew that once I was done with it, I would immerse myself fully in my shooting again. Mann laga ke, aaram se, without thinking that anything has changed,” he said.

Yet, something did. The first time Sarabjot checked into the range again for a training session, he forgot how to grip the pistol. That’s when he went back to his most trusted weapon: the diary.

A man of few words, Sarabjot keeps a personal diary where he regularly scribbles his largely shooting-centric thoughts. The diary helped him refocus from a crushing miss for a spot in the individual final – tied on scores for the 8th spot in the qualification, he missed out on inner 10s – to clinching the mixed medal at the Olympics. The diary would also help him revisit his basics.

“I had forgotten my grip and subtle nuances about my technique. I went through the diary to see all those things again,” he said. “I also revisited how I used to feel during training, match situations, how I would deal with pressure, react in certain circumstances and such things.”

It was still baby steps in the process as Sarabjot turned up for the National Games, where he came fourth. In June, he decided to head to the Munich World Cup for an own-cost outing and bowed out in the qualification.

“I just wanted to test myself again and see where I stand in this process. I felt I was back to 50%,” he said.

He’s still some bit off the 100%, as his scores in the trials for the Asian Championship also reflected. “Getting back to strong basics, rock solid mindset and meditation will get me there,” he said.

Meditation – Sarabjot practices tratak, a visual meditative exercise – helps keep him away from those Olympics flashbacks, even though his family often goes into rewind mode.

“It’s natural for them, because a lot has changed for us since then in terms of finances and popularity,” he said.

A lover of fast cars, Sarabjot purchased a brand new sports car. The Olympic medallist however is in no rush in his reset path. That said, key goals remain outlined where they need to be.

“The Asian Games (next year),” Sarabjot said. “All those goals are there in my diary.”

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