Jhajjar (Haryana) [India], September 25 (ANI): Following Suruchi Singh's gold medal win in mixed doubles shooting at the ongoing Asian Games, the shooter's mother, Sudesh recalled that he family initially wanted to have their child venture into the world of wrestling, but a collarbone injury turned her into a pistol shooter.
After a lull at a few medal events, India's pistol shooters had a great start to their Friday with two medals. The Indian shooting trio of Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Tomar and Niraj Kumar secured India a silver medal in the men's 50 m rifle 3 positions team event, while the mixed doubles pair of Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet clinched the gold medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event, securing India's second gold medal of the competition.
Suruchi and Kamaljeet finished with a total of 484.6 points in the final to beat South Korea, who won silver with 478.0 points. Iran claimed the bronze medal with 415.8 points, while Indonesia finished with 349.4 points and was eliminated. The Indian duo of Suruchi and Kamaljeet also smashed the Asian record, which was previously set by Uzbekistan (481.3) earlier this year in New Delhi during the Asian Shooting Championships event.
Speaking to ANI, the shooter's mother said, "Today is a day of immense happiness because my daughter has won a medal. I am extremely happy. I do not even know what to say about this, there is so much joy. The girl worked extremely hard, so we are very happy. And as for the family, you can see how joyful everyone is—words cannot describe this happiness."
Sudesh said that when she arrives back home from the airport, she will be welcomed to the sounds of drums, and sweets will be distributed.
"When Suruchi comes home, she loves Dal Churma. She likes pure desi ghee. We keep cows, so she eats homemade pure ghee, and that's what she prefers," she added, while describing what she will be fed on her return to home.
Speaking on Suruchi's journey, Sudesh revealed how the family wanted her to be a wrestler, something she could not do due to a collarbone injury. Despite such a setback, Suruchi wanted to go into sports, and her father quit his army job to help her and her younger brother take up shooting.
"We wanted to make her a wrestler. But then her collarbone broke, so because of that injury, we transitioned her to shooting. She works extraordinarily hard, practicing from morning till evening. Naturally, the family faces struggles, and so does the child, but seeing everything through, the girl never backed down and worked extremely hard," recalled her mother.
"Suruchi had said, "Papa, put me into a sport and make me a player." So her father left his army job, and he put both Suruchi and her younger brother into shooting. Now both brother and sister do shooting, and they play very well. She is a very hardworking girl," she added.
Lastly, on if she had spoken to her daughter, Suruchi's mother said, "Yes, I spoke with her briefly for a minute or two, and she was very happy." (ANI)
From wrestling to shooting: How a collarbone injury changed Asian Games medalist Suruchi's sporting trajectory
