NEW DELHI: It has been a strange two weeks for pistol shooter Gurpreet Singh. The Rio Olympian was looking forward to the Delhi World Cup after being out of the national team since late 2019. But myriad reasons, ranging from false positive test results, gun malfunctions to missing out on a quota for Tokyo, the Army shooter had to contend with a lot of issues. A silver lining came on Saturday as the 33-year-old finished second in the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team final along with Ashok Abhidnya Patil.
It could have been worse after Gurpreet tested positive on March 19 and was forced to isolate. He thought the chance to represent the country was over. The Amritsar-born had made his way back into the team after impressing in the trials and the camp.
“I had taken all sorts of precautions and was extra careful but when the positive report was relayed to me, I was in shock. If I had missed out on the chance to shoot here it would have been a big blow,” the World Championships silver medallist said.
He was confident that he had not contracted the virus and two further tests were done and both returned negative. He was subsequently allowed to attend the pre-event training on Wednesday. But if Gurpreet thought the worst was over, he was mistaken.
He was leading at one point during qualifications but his gun malfunctioned and he had to sort out the issue and ultimately, he qualified in third place ahead of his India compatriots Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu. With the Olympics quota at stake, there was a lot to fight for. But it was not meant to be as he finished sixth in the finals.
The CWG medallist refused to let the coronavirus scare as an excuse. “I tried my best but I need to improve further. The level in the final was quite high and I have noted down the things I need to work on. Mentally at one point, it (Covid scare) did affect me but when I got the chance to shoot, nothing from that episode came to mind.”
The army marksman pointed out how he likes to find the positives when everything seems to be against him. He did not make it to the World Cup team last year. He wanted to take a break from the sport to regroup and at that moment the lockdown ensued. Even the positive test result was a blessing in disguise. He managed to change his ammunition in that four-day gap after testing negative for the first time. “I wanted to shoot with my own set. Even though they are inferior in quality, I’m used to the recoil and I wanted to get back to that level of comfort.”
Gurpreet has a chance to add to his medal tally come Sunday in the men’s team event. Even though not many shooters are in the team events, the chance to shoot under pressure in a final is something that was missing for some time in his career. “A medal is a medal whichever way you look at it. I have already gotten over the disappointment of the individual event and I’m fully focussed on the 2024 Olympics.”