India wrapped up its Paris 2024 Olympics campaign with a total of six medals, led by the nation’s sharpshooters. Manu Bhaker stood out with two medals, while Sarabjot Singh and Swapnil Kusale each brought one home. The Indian Men’s field hockey team also clinched a bronze, while javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra added a silver to the tally, and wrestler Aman Sehrawat won a bronze.
Several state governments have announced significant cash prizes, awards, and government job offers for medal-winning athletes. However, one Indian athlete has declined a well-paying job offered by the state government. Scroll down to find out who it is.
Meet the Indian athlete who won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 and rejected a good-paying government job soon after
Sarabjot Singh, who, alongside Manu Bhaker, won a bronze medal in the 10M Air Pistol Mixed Team event, was offered a post as Deputy Director in the Haryana state sports department by the Haryana government. However, the Indian athlete has turned down the job offer, stating that he wants to focus solely on his shooting career.
“The job is good, but I will not do it right now. I want to work on my shooting first. My family has also been asking me to get a decent job but I want to do shooting… I don’t want to go against some decisions that I have made, so I cannot do a job right now,” Singh told reporters, according to Mint.
Early beginnings
Sarabjot Singh, 22, hails from Dheen village near Ambala. He is the son of Jatinder Singh, a farmer, and Hardeep Kaur, a homemaker. Singh initially liked playing football, but his interest shifted to pistol shooting at the age of 13 during a summer camp. There, he first saw children shooting at paper targets with pistols, an experience that motivated him to take up shooting as a career.
Initially, his father was hesitant to support Sarabjot Singh’s newfound passion due to the high costs associated with the sport. However, he eventually gave in to his son’s persistent requests. Jatinder Singh took out loans to purchase pistols for Sarabjot and would drop him off at the village bus stand daily. At just 16 years old, Sarabjot would travel 50 kilometres to Ambala and return late in the evening after training at an academy run by former shooter-turned-coach Abhishek Rana.
Major career achievements
Since first coming into the limelight after winning a gold medal at the Junior World Cup held in Germany in 2019, Sarabjot Singh has collected several more medals. In 2021, he claimed gold in the World Championships’ individual and team events.
Alongside Arjun Singh Cheema and Shiva Narwal, he won gold in the 10m air pistol team event at the 2022 Asian Games. Additionally, Sarabjot Singh secured a silver medal in the mixed 10m air pistol event with Divya T.S. More recently, just a few weeks before winning an Olympic bronze, the Indian shooter won a gold at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
