In awe of the sensational Saurabh Chaudhary, former world championship Silver-medallist shooter Jitu Rai feels the reticent youngster has it in him to humble one of the sport’s all-time greats, South Korean Jin Jong-Oh, in the Tokyo Games.
Jin is one of the most successful individual shooters at the Summer Olympics, having won a record-breaking six medals, including four Gold.
Rai is also backing the industrious Yashaswini Singh Deswal and the extremely talented Manu Bhaker to “do something good” at the Games in Tokyo.
“Saurabh Chaudhary is something else. I have seen him shoot and it’s not just about the medals he is winning, he is actually winning them with very high scores. And it’s no surprise that he is holding the world record at the moment,” Rai said.
In terms of form, wins and records, Chaudhary is to the Indian shooting contingent ahead of the Tokyo Games, what Rai was to the group that competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Reminded about that, Rai, who has got the better of Jin Jong-Oh in the past, said Chaudhary is different.
“You just need to look at the scores he registers. It is amazing how he does that so regularly and so well. I may have also won a lot of medals international competitions but you can see that Saurabh’s scores are higher than what I was shooting.
“In Tokyo, if he scores 582-583 in the qualifications, 99 pre cent he is going to make the finals, and he can score more than that. He is surely one of the biggest prospects in the 10m air pistol event,” the modest shooter, who is now eyeing the 2024 Paris Olympics after missing out on the current Games, said.
Having trained and competed with him in the past, Rai knows a thing or two about Chaudhary.
“He is quiet and reserved, fully focussed on the job at hand. He should win it in Tokyo.”