Indian skeet shooter Angad Vir Singh Bajwa made history at the recently-concluded Asian Shooting Championships in Qatar when he and teammate Mairaj Ahmad Khan finished first and second, respectively. Bajwa defended his Asian crown, which he had won in Kuwait in 2018 by breaking down all 60 targets. Having returned to the country, Angad spoke to The Tribune about his plans leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Games, his pre-match routine and love of rap music that keeps him away from distractions.

Before going to Doha, we were all training in Delhi. And you know the conditions… we were all wearing masks and trying to stay indoors most of the time. Leading up to the competition, there was a lot of pressure as this was the last competition for the quota places. But I didn’t try to do something different, I just followed basics. It was a long competition. There was a shoot-off to enter the final and then again in the final. It took a lot out of me.

Yes I was exhausted. Towards the fourth round the conditions began to deteriorate. There was a storm. The 22 I hit in the last round wasn’t easy and even the rest of field dropped targets. So it was not easy shooting during those conditions. But the final was perfect after that.

I just wanted to go out and repeat what I did during my competition and I am glad I was able to do that again as I shot 25, 23 and 25 in the three qualification rounds. Ganemat also shot well so credit goes to her as well. Our rounds were identical too.