‘I wish to win a gold medal for my country,’ says Pratibha Singh upon qualifying for Nationals in shooting

Sagar (M.P), June 8 (IANS) In a country filled with stories of athletes overcoming all odds, Pratibha Singh’s story resonates the impact of hardwork and dedication as she performed brilliantly in the Open India National Pistol Competition held in Mhow, Indore and has secured 14th rank in the All India Level NARI Women's category.

“I started 1.5 years ago. I used to enjoy shooting so I contacted Aijaz sir and joined under his wing. I started learning under him and had not taken any training before this. I have now cleared all competitions so far and have been successful. Hopefully if I continue working hard I will continue to succeed,” said Singh.

At 35 years of age, she not only has qualified for the upcoming Nationals in shooting, she has overcome adversity by also being the mother of two young daughters, a housewife and a national level shooter.

“I used to have a 12-Bore gun at home which ignited my interest but due to my fathers frequent transfers I was never able to join any academy. But now there was an academy near me and under Sirs mentorship I have been able to practice well. I wish to win a Gold medal for my country,” added the national level shooter.

Pratibha participated in the open nationals that took place in the MHOW region and ended up qualifying for the Nationals scoring 365, which was also the score she required to qualify to the next round.

“There is no problem in managing time. If you truly wish to do something then you never run short of time. There are a lot of things which waste our time after we’re done working like talking or watching TV so if you truly wish to do something then time carves itself out for you, she concluded.

She has already excelled at the State level, Zonals and Open national level as he now gets ready to take on the country's absolute best in her bid of qualifying for the trials before she can represent the country.

“She has been training for 1.5 years. When she first joined she was accompanied by her husband which felt very nice knowing that her husband motivated her to do this and even she really wanted to do this. In the beginning I used to think maybe she’s only doing this as a hobby but the sincerity and hard work she put in showed her passion for sports. I think if she keeps on working hard she will definitely get selected in the Indian team,” said Dr Muhammad Aijaz Khan, the director of the Sagar district shooting academy.

Pratibha has been closely training with the Sagar district shooting academy and repeatedly expressed how important Dr Khan has been in her journey. She will be required to score a 385 at the Nationals in order to be selected for the trials that will follow.

“Her two kids are quite young and she is also a house wife so I did not know if she would be able to give enough time or not but my misconception was cleared quick enough because she did not miss a single day’s training. It is quite unusual if the kids are this consistent but being a woman, managing her household duties, taking her kids to and fro from coaching and still managed to give time to her training, added Dr Khan.

“She is very sincere, all we have to do is tell her once and she works hard on whatever we have said. She has already played at the State level, Zonals, Open Nationals where she qualified for the Nationals. The date of the Nationals has not been revealed as of now but she’ll clear it,” concluded the secretary of the Sagar District Rifle Association.

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