Ace Rifle Shooter Sanjeev Rajput Still Awaiting Job Call Promised by Haryana Government

India's ace rifle shooter Sanjeev Rajput may have brought laurels to the country in various international tournaments but he is still awaiting a job the Haryana government had promised him when his tenure in Indian Navy came to an end in 2014. (

The 35-year-old Rajput, who hails from Jagadhri in Haryana, joined Indian Navy at the age of 18, among other achievements globally, clinched the gold medal at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, China in 2011.

"After I left Navy in 2014 I was assured of a job - post of inspector- in Haryana police. I was given the appointment letter, went to join them but things never worked out after that. They said a stay order was issued after the change in government. I followed it many times," said Rajput, who was hoping to be given the post of DSP considering his exploits.

Faced with a do-or-die situation, two-time Olympian Rajput battled the odds to secure India's 12 quotas from shooting for the upcoming Rio Games by finishing fourth in men's 50m rifle 3 positions at the Asian Olympic Qualifying Competition here today.

"The pressure was there from all quarters and this was the last day of the competition. Considering that the barrel broke three days ago and I had to struggle through 2015 due to a dip in form, I think today was satisfactory outing," Rajput, who has been offered the role of a coach by Sports Authority of India (SAI) at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, said after his event.

Overcoming a broken barrel barely three days ago and a struggling 2015, Sanjeev shot 429.5 after an impressive comeback in pone in the eight-man finals at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range to earn the country another Games berth.

"I have had a tough 2015 where I had to change my shooting jacket and gun three times which affected my performances. Also, the fact that after I left the Navy in 2014 it took me a while to adjust to the change in lifestyle. This was a do or die situation for me," Sanjeev, who has been sponsored by Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) for the past four years, said.

The Asian champion added, "For this competition I had trained hard but the barrel extension of my gun started giving me problems in the last three days and I could not change it at this stage. This is why I was being inconsistent in the finals as I was finding it difficult to adjust otherwise I could have shot even better."

Referring to trap exponents Ronjan Sodhi, Mohd. Asab and Ankur Mittal, Raninder said, "Both the shooters in double trap are under government's TOP scheme and we have often questioned. We may have to ensure checks and balances. We will take corrective action. Nobody is indispensable."

Among the eight finalists in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions, three athletes - Korea's Jonghyon Kim, Japan's Toshikazu Yamashita and Kazakhstan's Yuriy Yurkov were ineligible to claim quotas as they had secured quotas earlier.

Also, of the three Korean shooters who qualified for the finals, only one could claim an Olympic berth as Korea already had one quota in the event and a country can claim a maximum of two quotas per event.

Sanjeev was placed seventh after the first 15 kneeling position shots. It was good enough to secure a quota but he shot much better in the 15 prone shots series to register a score of 157.4 at the end of it with none of his shots going below 10.

He moved up to fifth position with the quota firmly in his grasp and though inconsistency returned in the standing position, Sanjeev maintained his fourth position, and was even in medal contention for a while.

The gold in the event was won by Korea's Olympic silver medallist Kim Jonghyun, who claimed his second yellow metal of the competition, having won the men's 50m rifle prone event earlier. He shot 461.4 in the finals. Kazakhstan's Yuriy Yurkov won the silver shooting 451.7 while Japan's Toshikazu Yamashita bagged the bronze registering a score of 439.9.

Sanjeev was eliminated in fourth position with a score of 429.5 but won the first available quota in the event.

In the other event of the day, UAE's Saif Bin Futtais won the gold beating Kuwait's Saud Habib, participating as an International Shooting Participant, 13-12 in the gold medal match. Saaed Almaktoum, also of UAE won the bronze beating countryman Mohamed Ahmad 15-14. The four quotas in the event went to UAE, Qatar and Kuwait (2).

India's young talent Bajwa finished just outside the top six with a score of 118. A score of 119 would have taken him to the finals and would have got him a quota by default. Man Singh finished 17th with a score of 116 and Amrinder Cheema ended in 25th position after logging 112.

India, thus, along with Japan, Korea and Iran finished as one of the most successful teams in the competition. Japan won five quotas while India bagged four and Korea and Iran three each. This is India's best ever performance in the Asia Olympic qualifying event.