National Games shooting: Confident Suruchi Phogat jolts top stars; strikes gold

Haryana’s Suruchi Phogat won the women’s 10m Air Pistol gold in the 38th National Games at the Trishul Shooting Range in Dehradun on February 5, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar

Forever crazy about wrestling, Inder Singh wanted his little daughter Suruchi Phogat to be in the sport too. The ex-Armyman came from Sasroli Village in Haryana’s Jajjar District, one of country’s leading wrestling belts, but with the little girl suffering a collar-bone injury after a fall she had had to quit the sport after training for about six months. But Inder wanted his daughter to do some sport.

“One day in 2019, my father and I entered a shooting range. And I was very interested to see the shooters there,” said Suruchi, in a chat with The Hindu, at the Trishul Shooting Range in Dehradun on Wednesday (February 5, 2025.)

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That journey brought the 18-year-old her maiden National Games gold in the women’s 10m air pistol event (245.7 points) today. She had announced her arrival in December while winning the senior, junior and youth 10m air pistol golds at the New Delhi Nationals in December.

There were some big names in the event, like Paris Olympian Rhythm Sangwan, another seasoned Olympian Rahi Sarnobat and Asian Games gold medallist Palak Gulia. But Suruchi was not perturbed.

“I was confident of winning gold because I topped yesterday’s qualification too. Nobody is my challenger, I’m my own challenger,” she said. Haryana’s Palak (243.6) and Punjab’s Simranpreet Kaur Brar (218.8) took the silver and bronze while Rahi was fourth.

Incidentally, double Olympic bronze medallist Manu Bhaker also comes from Jhajjar and it’s wonderful to see another young talent popping up from the district. And she was very clear about the people who keep inspiring her.

“My parents, my coach Suresh Singh and myself…and my big goal in the LA 2028 Olympics,” said Suruchi.

Suruchi travels more than 100km every day by train to Bhiwani to train for shooting. “The journey takes about one and half hours,” she said. The long journey and the hard work are now bringing her rich rewards.