Profile: Sanjeev Rajput
Sanjeev Rajput did not qualify for any event at the Commonwealth Games. For the 31-year old Sanjeev Rajput, Olympics are the time to erase those memories.
Sport: Shooting
Born: January 5, 1981
Event: 50 m rifle 3 positions
About Sanjeev Rajput:
Sanjeev Rajput could not make it to the Dr. Karni Singh shooting range when the Commonwealth Games were taking place in Delhi. He did not manage to qualify for any of the rifle events then. That definitely was the biggest disappointment of his career.
Rajput will definitely be seen at the Royal Artillery Barracks, London when the shooting events start on July 28th, 2012.
He won the bronze medal in the Men's 50m Rifle Prone at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the same medal in the Asian games, Doha 2006.
The Arjuna awardee from Haryana, won the gold in free rifle 3-position event in the World Cup in Changwon, Korea, to grab one of the Olympic quota places for the London Games in 2012. He became the third Indian shooter at the time to book the Olympic quota. He also set up National records in the process.
London is not the first Olympic appearance for the 31-year old as he has competed at the quadrennial mega event four years ago in Beijing. Then Rajput finished a lowly 26th in both the 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) and the rifle prone events. Since then he has specialised in the 3 positions and that is where he managed a Gold in the World Cup to book his Olympics berth.
His 3P scores might not have been consistent enough - ranging from 1140 to 1170 - but the London extravaganza may provide him with the impetus to reverse the trend and make history.