Shooter Ronjan Sodhi may be the proud receiver of Khel Ratna Award this year but he is at pains to demand that all politics around the awards should be plugged, preferably by keeping the names of the selection panel members a secret. It would be even better if these members are chosen from a potluck, he tells AMIT CHAUDHARY
Finally you have the Khel Ratna Award. How are you feelingIJ
Obviously, I am very excited to win this award. Nevertheless, the controversy could have been avoided.
How important are these awards for you or, for that matter, for any athleteIJ
At the end of the day, what is important for me are the medals. If you get awarded for your medals by the government, any organization or anyone, it serves as a big motivation. It only encourages a sportsperson to do better in future. But awards are something which are not as important as medals. I would rather have a medal than an award.
This was your third nomination for the Khel Ratna. Did you expect to win it this timeIJ
Frankly speaking, I didn't even know that my name had gone this year. I didn't know my name had gone last year or the year before that. It's the association that decides (about these things). They take your performance into consideration before deciding who is eligible for Khel Ratna and who is eligible for Arjuna Award and then they send names. like, I learned that last year my and Sanjeev Rajput's (he had won a world cup gold last year) names were nominated. None of us got it though. It was only after when my name wasn't considered I was informed that my name was there in the list. So, I wasn't even told that my name had gone for Khel Ratna this year. It was absolutely a surprise for me when I came to know that I won the award.
Did you feel sad when your award got embroiled into a controversyIJ
See, at the end of the day, what is an awardIJ It's something you get for your achievements. You can't ask somebody to reward you for your achievements.
I feel, in sports, lobbying should be avoided. It is the worst thing to happen to sports. These things send wrong signals to our junior athletes. This is not right for Indian sports. We should have strict norms about everything so that these things don't happen in future.
Can you elaborate on itIJ
First of all, the committee shouldn't be made public. How does everybody know that this is the composition of the committee and X, Y, Z people are part of itIJ Committee should be made but nobody outside the group should know about it. How would you lobby if you don't know who is in the committeeIJ At the same, the committee should be a draw of luck. You can put 30 names in a box and pick 15 from it. Whatever names come up through draw should form the committee and then the committee should vote for the chairman. Otherwise people will live in doubt that the committee was made to favour this or that person.
Why would my colleague know what actually transpired in the meeting — this happened, that happened and why happened. I mean I didn't even know when the meeting was and somebody here knows all the details of the meeting, which is actually bizarre.
Someone recently suggested that there should be a point system to choose the awardees so that one can know where he/she stands.
Absolutely. There should be a point system that the Olympic medalist would get X points for this medal and Y points for that medal. It has to be done like that. It should be crystal clear. This is not matter of debating or fighting. There should be a point system which the committee should follow so that nobody can call up anyone. That's not a good thing for an organisation.
It's been happening for some years now. Someone always creates a controversy. Why do you think sportspersons are getting into such things instead of focusing on their gameIJ
In 2010 and 2011, if you go back and see my achievements you will see I won a lot of international tournaments. lot of people from media called me (after I wasn't considered for the award) but I never said a word against anyone.
I don't even understand (why people do that). When I got this award and this controversy happened I was seriously contemplating whether to go and get it (Khel Ratna) or not. I was thinking in my head whether I should tell them that ‘I don't want it, please give it to her (Krishna Poonia)’.
In Indian sports, come to think of it, for how long people are going to remember your awards — four, five or six months. That's it. At the end of the day, we have to represent our country and win medals. That's more important than going and lobbying for awards. That's not going to take you anywhere. You’ll be remembered for your medals not awards.
let's go back to the london Olympics. What happened thereIJ Before it you were in great form and was favourite to win a medal.
I was in superb form, not great. I was the guy to be beaten. Everyone from India was saying that I was going to win and I would be the second shooter after Abhinav (Bindra) to win gold. The whole country was talking about me. I was hot favourite in the format.
But it's a mental sport. It was my first experience of the Olympics. I started out beautifully and I was leading in the first round. After the second round, I was number three. But then, somewhere in conscious mind the pressure catches on. That was my first Olympics, such a big stage, I was going as a favourite and actually leading the format, it wasn't very easy (to handle the pressure).
If you see, whoever has won an Olympics medal, has been an underdog. look at the history of Olympics, when Colonel (Rajyavardhan Singh) Rathore won, no one had expected him to win. When Abhinav won, no one spoke about him before the event. In this Olympics, whoever won the medals (in shooting), no one actually thought they would win. They were good athletes, right up there, but they were not hot favourites. So, there is a lot of pressure when you go as a favourite. I was world No 3 then.
When I was going for my very first round, I remember it very well, I was very nervous. I was shivering. I shot 48 out of 50 and I was leading. Other guys had shot 44, 45. 45 was the second highest score in the first round. Going into the final round I was third. What happened at the last few stations of the third round, I just lost focus. I mean whatever mistakes I made there I remembered all of them and I am not going to repeat them in future. That's for sure.
Any message for the upcoming playersIJ
If you have a dream, you should just chase it with dedication and determination and it will come true. And in shooting, or whatever sport you play, you must have a very positive frame of mind. If you are positive in life, nothing is unachievable.
So, where is the party after awards ceremonyIJ
(laughs) No party. After the awards ceremony I have only three hours to reach airport. I am leaving for Italy to prepare for the upcoming World Championship.