Good Asian Games and Early Olympic Quota Will Boost Confidence: Manavjit Singh Sandhu
Trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu, the World Cup gold winner, said an early quota place and a good outing at Asiad will "boost his confidence" ahead of the "real test" in Rio two years from now.
Ace trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu is eyeing an Olympic quota place in the upcoming World Championships and is also confident of winning a medal at the Inchon Asian Games that follows.
The World Cup gold winner says an early quota place and a good outing at Asiad will "boost his confidence" ahead of the "real test" in Rio two years from now.
"The practices are going well and I am pretty hopeful. Asian Games is a big platform and a medal will obviously give a boost before the Olympics, the real test. Moreover a medal ensures that you are on the right track," said Sandhu, who will be taking part in his fifth Asian Games, scheduled to start in the South Korean city of Incheon on September 19.
While talking about India's performance in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Sandhu said, "With every passing tournament India is proving that the country does not only plays cricket. I, personally, am very satisfied with the way we performed but there is a lot of scope for improvement." (Also Read: Indian Shooters Target Gold in World Championship, Asian Games)
The Rajiv Gnadhi Khel Ratna awardee also shared his concern for the lack of facilities at the grassroots.
"Shooting is often seen as a rich man's game but I don't want to put it that way. A lot of young kids today want to come to shooting and be the next Abhinav Bindra but the matter of fact is we don't have sponsors at that level or proper facilities to support them," he said.
He added, "Moreover schools and colleges do not promote shooting; until they do it we cannot bring up young talents."
Earlier this year Sandhu produced excellent talent to clinch gold at the ISSF shotgun World Cup in Tucson, USA, defeating two-time Olympic champion and another equally proven marksman Michael Diamond of Australia.
He met Diamond once again for the bronze-medal match in Glasgow. Both Manavjit and Diamond hit 11 targets out of the 15 at that game, and it then required a 'shoot-off' where the Indian was on target to ensure a podium finish.