— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

RICH HAUL: Manavjit Singh Sandhu says he is not surprised with the good results at the highest level as it came after more than a year's hard work.

NEW DELHI: World champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu returned to a hearty welcome here on Wednesday.

The flight landed at 3.05 a.m. and the tall and well-built trap shooter moved briskly around, sought elders' blessings, hugged his proud family members and friends, as garlands were added to the two precious gold and silver medals he was wearing.

The 29-year-old Manavjit, who expects a World No.1 ranking after his stupendous show at Zagreb was calm and composed while addressing the media later.

"I am satisfied. No crazy happiness for me. I have been training hard for the last one and a half years. I have been making the finals of all the World Cups. It has been a great year for me. I have got a system in place, and I have got two years of solid work ahead of me for the Beijing Olympics," said Manavjit.

"I have got age and experience on my side. This title is a clear indication that the Indian shooters are on the right track," he observed.

New rule

Looking back at the competition in a strong field of 125 shooters, Manavjit said the Russian shooter Pavel Gurkin, who led with a 123 out of 125, was missing a lot on his left, perhaps because of the new rule that allowed only one shot per bird in the final. Manavjit, however, was prepared for the final assault. He missed the least among the six to win by one point even as the Russian collapsed to the sixth place. He missed three and the Russian missed nine out of 25 in a dramatic finish.

"It is awesome that we have two World champions and one more at the junior level. We have got six medals. For many years we have been saying that shooting is the No.1 performing sport in the country, and we have proved it. I'm not surprised with all this good results at the highest level as it was just waiting to happen. The government has been supporting the sport too. Abhinav Bindra has not become world class on one fine day. He has been a great shot all along," said Manavjit.

Immediate task

Though he said that the shooters were capable of winning two or three medals in the Olympics in 2008, Manavjit said his immediate task was to perform well in the Doha Asian Games in December.

"I will go back to Italy after a week to train under Marcello Dradi. A lot of credit should go to him for this success. He has been my personal coach for a few years'', said Manavjit.

And at the airport, Manavjit made sure that his sponsors JCT, BILT and AIS got their due by showing the T-shirt that sported names of all.

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