Battling challenges of life, Asiad silver medallist Rajput seeks job

Taking in his stride the challenges life had thrown at him, Sanjeev Rajput says the ability to cut off from his personal battles while shooting has helped him land two major medals in the last six months.

Life has not been the same for Rajput ever since a fellow shooter filed a rape case against him in December 2016, a charge he denies. Shooting is mainly a mental sport and the court case affected him immensely in the initial stages but not anymore.

"The personal issues are still going on but I can focus on myself, bring down my entire concentration to shooting. I was not able to do that earlier but now I am able to cut off myself from everything when I am shooting. I believe if you are truthful, you will keep moving ahead," Rajput told PTI.

And indeed, he is moving ahead at 37. The former Navy man captured his maiden Commonwealth Games gold with a games record at Gold Coast in April and today, he got his hands on his maiden individual Asian Games medal, a silver in the 50m rifle 3 positions.

All this he has been able to do despite not having a job for more than 12 months. Having retired from Navy after 19 years of service, Rajput joined Sports Authority of India but was sacked last year. The Jagadhri-based shooter has hopes from Haryana government but for now, his only regular source of income is the monthly pension he gets from the Navy.

"I am quite hopeful that I would be offered something after today. Lets see what happens," said the god-fearing marksman.

The fact that he has been on the international scene for almost 15 years is also benefitting him immensely.

"I have been shooting since 2003 onwards, been getting some medal or the other almost every year. I have also lost a lot of close matches in this period. Now when I am in a losing position, I think about those times and know what road to take. That helps."