Was Moved by Saurabh Chaudhary, and Will Put in a Lot of Work for the Olympics in Paris: Varun Tomar

Varun Tomar, a promising shooter, has always aspired to be like his cousin, Olympian Saurabh Chaudhary. On Monday, the 20-year-old made history by capturing the gold medal at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jakarta, guaranteeing him a spot at the 2024 Paris Games.

Tomar claimed the individual gold medal would spur him to practice harder for the 2024 Paris Games. Tomar first trained at his home range in the Baghpat region of Uttar Pradesh alongside multiple World Cup gold winner and 2018 Asian Games champion Chaudhary.

“I started photography seven years ago after seeing my older relative Saurabh. Since he achieved success early in his career, he has served as my inspiration. Tomar told PTI from Jakarta, “I always wanted to be like him and achieve international success.”

Amit Sheoran was my instructor when I first began shooting, and we were both from Benoli village in Baghpat. Tomar was a previous junior world championship gold medalist in the team event.

Tomar, who is from the Baghpat hamlet of Garhi Kangran, won both the individual and team gold on the first day of competition, guaranteeing India’s 14th Olympic quota spot.

In the 10m air pistol final, the 20-year-old fired 239.6 to win the individual category and place ahead of fellow countryman Arjun Cheema (237.3).

Earlier, Tomar (586), Cheema (579), and Ujjawal Malik (575) won the gold medal in the 10m air pistol team event with a combined score of 1740.

Tomar, who hails from a farming family, stated, “It helped that I had someone like Saurabh to take guidance from as I don’t have anyone in the family who is a shooter.”

Tomar finally achieved victory last year, having trained for over seven years, when he took home individual bronze medals from the World Cups in Cairo and Bhopal.

He was soon chosen to get training at the Karni Singh Ranges’ National Centre of Excellence (NCOE), and he is now working for the Indian Army.

Varun has always impressed me with his serene demeanor. He is Saurabh’s duplicate. Here, national rifle coach Deepak Dubey said, “He just stays to himself at the range and trains hard, hardly interacting with anyone.”

Despite being a junior, he is picking things up quickly. The two World Cup victories he had last year and the gold medal he earned individually today show that he has excellent skill and temperament, according to Dubey.

“I have no doubt that Saurabh served as his inspiration. He joined NCOE around six months ago. He gained a spot on the Indian squad the previous year and took home two World Cup gold. He had some excellent shots last year.

“The Army Marksmanship Unit’s selection of him has greatly aided his career. It is commendable that he has emerged on his own without the assistance of a personal coach, according to Dubey.

“By limiting his air pistol shooting to 10 meters instead of 25 meters, he is able to focus entirely on a single discipline.” He is highly disciplined, hardworking, and obedient, much like Saurabh. Dubey continued.