Running is vital for life, a belief championed by PUMA ambassadors, Harmanpreet Kaur, Indian cricket team captain, and Sarabjot Singh, Olympic bronze medallist. Putting the spotlight on it, the two sports icons fronted a colourful march through Lodhi Colony today in the capital to launch the new Race Day Tee (RDT) for Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon (VDHM), designed exclusively by official sports partner PUMA India. The 19th edition of VDHM is set to electrify Delhi’s streets on Sunday, October 20 with #AaRangDeDilli. In the run up to the main race day, sports brand PUMA India organised a larger-than-life celebrity march featuring drones and giant tees.

The launch event saw Harmanpreet and Sarabjot leadinga dynamic contingent through Delhi’s Lodhi Colony. The contingent carried a gigantic version of the RDT and some tees were unfurled by drones, adding to the visual spectacle. Reflecting #AaRangDeDilli, the new RDTs come in 4 colour stories: pink and orange for men, purple and red for women.

Commenting on the occasion, Karthik Balagopalan, Managing Director of PUMA India, said, “Running has emerged as one of the fastest growing sports in India and is heavily invested in this discipline, PUMA India is constantly looking for opportunities to build and engage with this dynamic community. Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon is an iconic event in India’s sporting calendar and our long-standing partnership urges us to create newer experiences for this great capital of ours. The vibrant launch of our Race Day Tee with icons Harmanpreet Kaur and Sarabjot Singh today has been a remarkable spectacle and will set the stage for many more unforgettable moments on the main race day. As we mark our 11th year of collaboration, we are confident that our high-performance tees will continue to enhance every runner’s experience and performance.”

According to industry estimates, India today boasts of over 2 million registered runners. Professional athletes, especially, have been advocating runs as a vital part of their training and recovery.

Commenting on the occasion, Indian cricket captain and PUMA ambassador Harmanpreet Kaur, said: “Running is the simplest yet the most powerful form of exercise. It has played a critical role in my sportingcareer, building both physical endurance and mental resilience. Leading this colourful march today in the capital to launch the new PUMA Race Day Tee for Vedanta DelhiHalf Marathon is my way of sharing our love for running.”

Sarabjot Singh, Paris 2024 shootingmedallist and PUMA athlete, added,”Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon is a fantastic platform to celebrate the joy of running and inspiring people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Running has been my go-to exercise before every important match as it helps clear my mind. Excited to be part of this journey through PUMA and I look forward to seeing the streets of Delhi come alive with runners on the main race day in October.”

A Race ThatUnites

Promoted by Procam International, VDHM’s participation has grown steadily each year. Since its inception, the prestigious half-marathon has expanded from a few hundred local runners to over 5,30,000 participants from across the country and the globe. PUMA India has been the official sports partner for VDHM for over a decade now

Anil Singh, Managing Director, Procam International, said, “Each year 1000-plus new runners take up the sport of running, a clear indication of its growing popularity in our country. Moreover, running has proven to be an effective experiential platform for brands. In our decade-long association, PUMA has set new benchmarks with innovative offerings and this VDHM Race Day Tee will certainly boost the morale and performance of our participants. Look forward to a spirited Race Day and reverberate #AaRangDeDilli.”

As the countdown to the main race day begins, the grand launch of the Race Day Tee in Delhi today by PUMA India serves as a reminder of the energy and excitement that the VDHM brings to the city of Delhi each year.

Sarabjot Singh, who partnered with Manu Bhaker to win India’s first ever Olympic medal in a mixed shooting event, on Saturday said they “barely” got to train together in the run-up to their event. Bhaker and Sarabjot scripted history with a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team shooting event at the Paris Games. “My training was due at 9, hers was due at 12, individually. Mixed session lasted for 30 minutes, before which she trained separately, and I separately.” “Our conversation was usually brief and limited to ‘Apna 100 per cent dena hai (we have to give our 100 per cent)’. Apart from that, we enjoyed some banter. Sometimes I would make fun of her, sometimes she would of me,” recalled Sarabjot.

Sarabjot also revealed his longtime fandom for Yusuf Dikec and said he has been looking up to the Turkish shooting icon for inspiration since 2011.

“I have been watching his (Yusuf’s) videos since 2011. He has always been like this. He is 51 today. Even though I have tried, I could not match his perfection. If I had the chance, I would ask him what he eats?,” said the 22-year-old from Dheen village of Haryana during an interview with PUMA India.

Sarabjot said that his pistol is engraved with SSINGH30, comprising his initials and a significant date in his journey.

“I didn’t give it a name. When I achieved my personal best at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, I got the weapon engraved with ‘SSINGH30’. That is my best weapon. Because my medal (gold) came on September 30 and that was a significant achievement,” he said.

The athlete also shared that he has had to deal with his fair share of setbacks in his journey. Meditation, and a rare yogic technique called Trataka, helped him.

“The main technique is to look at the candle flame with eyes open for three minutes, and then imagine for two minutes. I used to keep it directly in front of my eyes.

“Complete darkness in the room, complete peace, silence. My eyes would water; it was not easy. The most important thing is visualisation in shooting,” said Sarabjot.

In conclusion, the Olympic medallist stated his ambition for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

“LA ’28; iska colour change karna hai (LA ’28, I want to change its colour),” said Sarabjot, gesturing toward his glittering bronze medal. 

Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra believes there was a scope of “more conversions” for Indian shooters at the Paris Games but overall it was a campaign which they should be proud of. India clinched six medals overall with three in shooting as Manu Bhaker became the first ever athlete from the country post Independence to earn two podium finishes in a single edition of Olympics. Alongside winning a bronze medal in women’s 10m air pistol, Manu grabbed another bronze in mixed 10m air pistol shooting with Sarabjot Singh as her teammate. India got another bronze when Swapnil Kusale finished third in the final of the 50m rifle 3 positions event in Paris.

“There have been misses, but everyone has fought well,” Bindra told Jio Cinema.

“Outcomes are important, but more than that, it’s about seeing how you’ve improved as a nation in terms of performance. If you look at those elements, we’ve performed better than before. We’d like to see more conversions to medals, but we have a lot to be proud of,” he said.

Bindra praised Manu for patching up with coach Jaspal Rana and for working in tandem for her success.

“He (Rana) is a treasure trove of knowledge, a hard taskmaster and that’s a good thing. I had coaches I loved and ones I severely disliked but found a way to work with them.” “I credit Manu for having patched up with Jaspal after a difficult couple of years, which is normal in a coach-athlete relationship. Athletes are sensitive people and when we’re under pressure, that sensitivity heightens,” he explained.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medallist shooter Bindra said Manu’s success in Paris was a story of resilience.

“She’s taught everyone about resilience, how to sail well, and bounce back from disappointment. The greatest moment was when she finished qualification on day one, I saw a picture of hers and she didn’t have a smile on her face. That told me she was going to do well,” he said.

Bindra said Kusale’s focus on his preparations was the standout factor.

“He was very strategic in his preparation. A lot of athletes made the long trip from Chateauroux to Paris for the opening ceremony, but Swapnil decided not to. He seemed to be a very self-aware athlete, he knew where his body and mind were,” he said.

“He didn’t want to let go of energy, something he needed for competition. Sometimes, that’s the difference between coming back with a medal or not,” Bindra added.

Bindra, however, admitted only time will heal Arjun Babuta’s wounds who finished fourth in men’s 10m air rifle event.

“I spoke to him before and after the event, he was disappointed, but he was already looking ahead. He’ll need a little bit of time to come to terms with a fourth-place finish, but that’s life, that’s what sports is all about,” Bindra said.

Image for representative use© AFP

Star pistol shooter Manu Bhaker landed back in the country on Wednesday after her historic feat of winning two medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games and was welcomed by hundreds of supporters and her family, who braved a steady drizzle to give her a memorable reception in New Delhi. The Air India flight (AI 142), which brought Bhaker from Paris to Delhi, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 9:20am, delayed by one hour.

Hundreds of people, who waited at the airport long before her arrival despite the morning drizzle in the city, accorded her — and her coach Jaspal Rana — an enthusiastic reception.

STORY | Double Olympic bronze medal-winning shooter Manu Bhaker (@realmanubhaker) returns home

READ: https://t.co/FsW74IB6jQ

VIDEO : pic.twitter.com/8MmPnW7WMH

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 7, 2024

The 22-year-old Bhaker won a bronze each in the women’s 10m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team event — where she had paired with Sarabjot Singh — to script Olympic history for the country.

Before her, only British-Indian athlete Norman Pritchard had achieved the rare landmark for the country with his two silver medals in 200m sprint and 200m hurdles at the 1900 Olympics but this happened in the pre-Independence era.

Before leaving for India, Bhaker had stated that she was looking forward to a grand welcome and she was not disappointed on Wednesday.

The youngster was greeted with bouquets, garlands, and celebratory dhol after emerging from the airport exit.

Flower petals were showered on her and Rana as soon as they came out amid significant police presence to manage the crowd.

Among those present were Bhaker’s parents — Ram Kishan and Sumedha — and sports enthusiasts and officials from her home state Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, the state to which Rana belongs.

Rana’s father was also there at the airport.

“It is a matter of pride for us that a daughter of India is coming back after creating history by winning two medals in an Olympics. It has never happened before. She is only 22 years old,” said former Uttarakhand Sports Minister and Rana’s father, Narayan Singh Rana.

“She is coming along with her coach Jaspal Rana. He is my son. He brought glory playing for India in shooting. Jaspal Rana and Abhinav Bindra started it all,” he added.

People gathered at the airport long before her arrival and they celebrated her feat with song and dance, holding banners with photos of Bhaker and Rana.

Bhaker will be meeting sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya in the afternoon. She will head back to Paris on Saturday to participate in the closing ceremony on Sunday where she will be one of India’s flag-bearers.

Pistol shooter Sarabjot Singh has experienced the extreme highs and lows of elite sport in his maiden Olympics. Inconsolable after a narrow miss in the individual 10m air pistol event, Sarabjot raised his game to match his more accomplished team-mate Manu Bhaker and secure a second shooting medal for India at the Paris Games. After the heartbreak of last week, when the 22-year-old from Dheen village near Ambala missed the men’s 10m air pistol final by the smallest of margins, an inner 10 to be specific, his whole shooting journey that began in 2016 flashed before his eyes.

Sitting in despair at the qualification range, Sarabjot thought about his 35km-long daily bus ride to coach Abhishek Rana’s academy in Ambala, the immeasurable sacrifice of his father who could just provide for his family with his limited farming income and also his US-based grandfather, who made sure that his grandson never had to compromise on expensive shooting equipment.

“All I could think after that final was what my father did for me his entire life, the support of my grandfather in the US and all the lonely journeys that I took on the bus to Ambala during the first two years of my career. Having got a medal now, I hope to make my parents lives better,” said Sarabjot.

Having made history moments earlier, he could also afford a smile and looked back at his early days with amusement.

“I got bored after two years in the bus. Third year onwards I used to ride with a friend name Chetan. In 2021, I got a car to go to the range (laughs),” said Sarabjot, who also has multiple medals to his name in world events.

Considering his state of mind on the opening day of the competition, it was remarkable that Sarabjot was able to turn it around and match Manu shot for shot in the 10m air pistol mixed team bronze medal play-off against South Korea here on Tuesday.

Not to take anything away from Sarabjot and Manu’s memorable performance under pressure, the underwhelming show of Paris 2024 individual gold medallist and Olympic record holder Oh Ye Jin allowed the breathing space the Indians needed when put under pressure by the Koreans.

Sarabjot felt the nerves at the start and shot an 8.6 but found consistency in the second half of the play-off to complement Manu, who managed three sub-10 shots compared to her team-mate’s four.

“There was no pressure. I slept at 9.30 yesterday and got up at 5.30. But when I got here at the range, I felt a bit of nerves as there was hype around it,” said Sarabjot, a Khelo India athlete since 2019 who has participated in four Khelo India Games and is a Target Olympic Podium Scheme athlete.

How did he manage to get over the disappointment of the individual event? “My family motivated me. I spoke to the coaches and tried to analyse what went wrong. The talk with the coach was mainly technical,” said Sarabjot.

A significant credit of Sarabjot’s success should also go to his friend and fellow shooter Adiya Malra, who trains with him at Rana’s academy in Ambala.

“Both Sarabjot and Adiya came to me around the same time in 2016. They share a great bond and believe they don’t need to train with anyone else to prepare for any event.

“Aditya was not part of the Olympic selection trials but he was there with Sarabjot to provide him moral support. I wish he was with us here as well,” said an emotional Rana at the shooting range after the medal was confirmed.

Rana felt Sarabjot was not at his best on Tuesday but his execution was significantly better than the individual event.

“He was able to execute better today. He is still not happy with the scores and that was reflecting on his face. He will be going for an individual gold in the next Olympics. That is our main target heading now,” said the coach.

Rana also recalled a pivotal moment in Sarabjot’s career.

“His uncle brought him to me in 2016 and he started training on the very first day. Next year he got a bronze at the nationals, that was the moment his vision changed forever,” said Rana, who can also churn home cooked meals for Sarabjot when he is training back home.

Without an accreditation here, Rana was buying daily tickets to be with his protégé at the range.

Heading back to India on Wednesday, Sarabjot did not leave the range without giving credit to institutions that looked after him.

“The biggest contribution I would say is from TOPS, OGQ and Khelo India. They provided all the equipment and facilities that I needed.”

PV Sindhu and Sarabjot Singh in mixed team 10m air pistol final© AFP

Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh won historic bronze medal in mixed team event© AFP

India’s Schedule, Medal Events At Paris Olympics 2024 Day 4: Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh© Twitter