The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Sandhu out to prove his class

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Sandhu out to prove his class

Kamesh Srinivasan

— PHOTO: AP

READY TO FIRE: Indian shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu is confident of doing well in the Beijing Olympic Games.

He goes into the Olympics with the confidence of being the World champion.

In the intensely competitive world of trap shooting, in which Michael Diamond of Australia is looking for his third gold medal and Alexey Alipov of Russia is attempting to defend the title, Manavjit Singh Sandhu will be out to prove his class in the Beijing Games.

The 32-year-old Punjab shooter, who has been training with coach Marcelo Dradi in Italy, has not been in great form of late as he has not made any finals in international competition this season except for the Asian Clay championship in Jaipur.

Not disturbed

Sandhu, however, is not disturbed by the trend, which is so much in contrast to the times when he used to make the final of every World Cup.

“I have lost a lot of weight and had to change a lot, including the technique. It was important to do it quickly. If you look at it, every time I have missed the final it is because of one bad round. Now the scores in training have been fantastic, and I am confident of my chances”, said Sandhu, who had fought his way to the individual silver medal in the Doha Asian Games in tough conditions.

Both in the Kerrville and the Belgrade World Cups this season, Sandhu had one round of 21 that pulled down his total to 116 and 117 respectively. He had shot a 121 out of 125 on way to the gold in the world championship in Zagreb in 2006. His best was a 123 in the Asian championship in Bangkok in 2005.

The champion shooter could possibly be preparing for the final leap to glory in Beijing, in his second Olympics. He had finished 19th with a 116 in Athens. “There is a vast difference to what I was in Athens. I am a more complete shooter today. I have put in so much work that am ready, not just for this Olympics, but two more”, said Sandhu.

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