In the previous century, shooting remained largely a sport for the elites. It was Jaspal Rana who brought this sport to the limelight with his Gold medals from International shooting ranges. After the silver of Ra-jyawardhan Rathor in Athens Olympics 2004, the sport started to spread to every nook and corner.
Only 2 years before this historic first-ever Olympic silver, a boy named Saurabh Chaudhary was born. Toy-gun was his first touch with the sport, courtesy being his sibling Nitin. He would pay a visit to the nearby shooting range with Nitin when he was 13. From then onwards, he was a regular to blaze the gun in Mee-rut shooting range. His coach Amit Sheron asked his father to purchase a gun for Saurabh. For a family of limited means, it was a big task. Taking their call, his farmer father Jagmohan Singh took a loan to purchase the best equipment for his beloved son.
He didn’t let them down. The rise was visible as results started in only 3-4 months, and the elated family created a makeshift shooting range in their home for the emerging superstar. The range was between two rooms, providing a quiet space to the talent, away from the chaos of the academy.
In his first World Juniors Championship in Suhl 2017, Saurabh finished just outside the medal zone. But his 4th position from the shooting capital of Germany shaped him to touch new heights.
From 2018 onwards, Gold medals began to fall in his bag one after the other. At Jakarta, he faced a stiff challenge from 42-year-old Japanese Tomoyuki Matsuda and his sparring partner Abhishek Verma. Final-ly, Saurabh became the youngest Gold medal winner for the nation in the Asian Games. His success story was published on the front pages of the newspapers. Now ‘Saurabh Chaudhary’ was a well-known name.
The sensational run continued. The boy from Kalina village of Meerut (UP), returned with another Gold from the 2018 Youth Olympic Games held in Argentina. He would bag five more gold medals and a bronze at the ISSF Junior World Cup, the ISSF Junior World Championships, and the Asian Junior Airgun Championship in the same year.
He showed no signs of slowing down in 2019 either. In February, he clinched Gold at the ISSF World Cup in Delhi.
From here onwards, his tuning with fellow teenage prodigy Manu Bhaker began. The duo won the gold medal at the mixed team 10m air pistol events in 2019 shooting World Cup. The combo added two more gold medals from the ISSF World Cups in Beijing, Munich, and silver arrived from Rio de Janeiro. Adding ice to the cake, Saurabh broke the world and junior records in 10m pistol in Munich. In January 2020, otherwise shy Saurabh came first at the 63rd National Shooting Championship in men’s 10-meter air pistol.
Just when he was a firm favorite for a medal from the Tokyo 2020, COVID-19 come a bolt from the blue. Saurabh Chaudhary was ready for the challenge.