Shooter Omkar Singh hopes to bring Olympic glory for India

Omkar Singh looks to book a quota place as the first step in winning an Olympic medal

International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to strip the Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait of its status as a qualifying tournament for the Rio Olympics, did not discourage India’s pistol shooter Omkar Singh, as he sounded positive and is hungry to win an Olympic medal for the country.

"It is their decision to revoke quota place from the Championship. My job will remain the same - shoot the best and win a medal for India. The decision has not demoralised me but increased the my hunger of winning an Olympic medal," Omkar told IBNLive in an exclusive interview from Kuwait.

Omkar, who is a part of the senior category in the ongoing Asian Championship, is also a challenger for the quota place in the 10-metre air pistol. Aman Pathania and Jitendra Vibhute will be shooting in the same category as Omkar.

"The preparation was done. We were all set for the tournament but all of a sudden the decision has come. But, we are not bothered about that. This decision won’t affect us. We need to focus and work more hard now," he said.

Omkar admits that the decison taken by the IOC, has provoked him to work harder in order to earn the quota place.

"We need to remain in form and focused for another two-months time now; the decision has only increased the hard-work load on us," he said.

Jitu Rai, Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, Apurvi Chandela, Gurpreet Singh, Prakash Nanjappa, Chain Singh and Mairaj Khan are the Indian shooters who have previously booked Olympic berths.

Among the women, Shweta Choudary, Heena Sidhu and Tejaswini Deswal are fighting for 10-metre air pistol event, while Anisa, Anuraj and Gouri are looking to grab a place in the 25-metre pistol event. Whoever qualifies, will be the first woman to qualify as no other women have bagged a qualification before.

The Indian shooters who were looking to use this opportunity to book some more Olympic quota places for the next year’s Rio Games, have been bulldozed by this decison of the IOC.

"I don't think this decision will have any ill-effect on shooters. But it has increased the workload. Now we have to practice more and work hard for two more months," said Omkar, who had won three gold medals and a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi.”

"Shooting is all about fighting with yourself. It is 'you' who is your opponent. The plan is to perform and at any cost. I have done well at the Commonwealth Games platform. Now, I am just hungry to win an Olympic medal for my country. This is my ultimate dream. It will be fantastic to win a medal," he said.

India and Qatar are the countries in contention to host the shooting championship for the quota place for the Rio Olympics.

"I will be happy to shoot matches for quota place in either place because both the ranges are familiar to me. But winning quota on the motherland will multiply the happiness. I want to listen the loud cheer of my home crowd," Omkar, who was conferred with Arjuna Award in 2012, said.

When asked about the reaction from the veteran shooters like Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu after IOC’s decision, Omkar said: "Honestly, they are not thinking of the odds. It was IOC’s decision and no one can change it. We can’t do anything except good shooting.

"Asian championship holds a very important place in our shooting diary. We want to win medals here," the Indian shooter said.

"Most of the Olympic champions belong to Asia. So winning a medal at Asian Championship with or without quota place is important," Omkar added.

The shooter was also asked about his inspirition. This is what Omkar had to say. "Anybody who is excelling. It can be in education, arts, sports, science or any field. That person is my inspiration. If I talk about an individual, then he is Sachin Tendulkar. He has been my inspiration,".