Indian shooter Singhraj Adhana, won the Paralympics bronze medal in the P1 men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final of Tokyo Paralympics on 31-august-21. The athlete who took to the sport just four years ago was down with COVID-19 in May this year and was hospitalised for 15 days. He defied the odds to clinch the medal.
The 39-year-old, who is afflicted with polio was making his debut at the games. He shot a total of 216.8 to finish the event in the third place after qualifying for the eight-man final as the sixth best shooter. The Indian shooter later said he might have won silver or gold for the country if the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t hamper his training regime.
“I contracted COVID in May this year. I was down with fever and was hospitalised, when I recovered it felt like a second birth. I resumed training one month after recovering fully from COVID, if not for COVID, I might have had won gold or silver,” said Singhraj after his bronze medal win.
“Postponement of Tokyo Games didn’t benefit me as I was in a good rhythm in 2020. If Paralympics were staged in 2020, more shooters would have won medals and I myself would have had a medal of a different colour,” he added.
However, another Indian shooter Manish Narwal, who topped the qualifications with 575, was eliminated in the seventh place when it mattered the most. Talking about it Singhraj said
“When I was in the fourth position, I saw all athletes ahead of me were Chinese and meanwhile, Manish Narwal too was eliminated. I felt very bad and said to myself ‘now there is no chance of making a mistake’. I remembered God and registered a perfect shot to reach third (position).”
Talking about how he prepared for the event he said “I have designed an international level shooting range at home. I have named it ‘Mission Olympic’ and have written on them Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.”
