Silver in a field of Olympic champions: Sainyam Vij’s best day yet
Written off in tenth after qualification, the 22-year-old from Chandigarh beat everyone but the world number one to win her second senior international medal in Hangzhou
Sainyam Vij was tenth after qualification. The final she walked into afterward had an Olympic champion, a reigning world number one, and two Chinese shooters on home soil. By the time it ended, the 22-year-old from Chandigarh had beaten all but one of them.
Shooting a final score of 243.4 at the Fuyang Yin Sports Centre in Hangzhou on Friday, Sainyam finished 0.2 points behind China’s Yao Qianxun, the world number one, to win silver, her second senior international medal after a silver at last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Doha.
“Whenever I shoot, I don’t shoot with the idea of whom I am competing against or whether she is an Olympic champion,” she told The Indian Express from Hangzhou. “China ho ya Korea, mera competition mere se hi hai. Whether it’s China or Korea, my competition is only with myself.”
She started the final poorly, a first series of 49.7 that left her fifth. The second series turned it: a 51.9, the best of the eight shooters in the field, put her level at the top with Qianxun. She stayed inside the top two through the eliminations that followed, trailing Qianxun by 0.6 points heading into the final series before closing with a 10.6 and a 10.7, better than Qianxun’s own 10.3 and 10.4, but not enough to close the gap. Reigning Olympic champion Oh Yejin, of Korea, finished last.
“I understood that my first series did not go well and I should not focus on what has happened,” Sainyam said. “There was some difference in lighting in qualification as compared to the final range, and I knew I had to adjust. The key for me was to believe in what I have been doing in training. Post the silver medal in Doha, I had some low scores, but I knew I had to keep having belief in my process, and that worked for me today. Coach Samresh Jung has always told me to believe in the process, and that’s the winning mantra for me.”
Sainyam started shooting after watching her brother Akarshan train, and gave up on a career in medicine to follow him into it. She is a former junior Asian and junior world champion.
She missed out on next month’s Asian Games squad after NRAI’s trials, with the federation’s 30-shooter quota already filled by Esha Singh and Manu Bhaker across the 10m and 25m pistol events. Asked how it feels to compete against Bhaker and Singh, and against Phogat, for a place in the Indian team, Sainyam returned to the same idea that had carried her through the final.
“I have never thought about competing for my spot in the Indian team. I have only thought about my shooting and how I can improve,” she said. “Yes, I wanted to compete in the Asian Games, but that’s shooting. My aim is to win the Olympic quota for India at the World Championships in Doha later this year.”
Sainyam Vij was tenth after qualification. The final she walked into afterward had an Olympic champion, a reigning world number one, and two Chinese shooters on home soil. By the time it ended, the 22-year-old from Chandigarh had beaten all but one of them.
Shooting a final score of 243.4 at the Fuyang Yin Sports Centre in Hangzhou on Friday, Sainyam finished 0.2 points behind China’s Yao Qianxun, the world number one, to win silver, her second senior international medal after a silver at last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Doha.
“Whenever I shoot, I don’t shoot with the idea of whom I am competing against or whether she is an Olympic champion,” she told The Indian Express from Hangzhou. “China ho ya Korea, mera competition mere se hi hai. Whether it’s China or Korea, my competition is only with myself.”
She started the final poorly, a first series of 49.7 that left her fifth. The second series turned it: a 51.9, the best of the eight shooters in the field, put her level at the top with Qianxun. She stayed inside the top two through the eliminations that followed, trailing Qianxun by 0.6 points heading into the final series before closing with a 10.6 and a 10.7, better than Qianxun’s own 10.3 and 10.4, but not enough to close the gap. Reigning Olympic champion Oh Yejin, of Korea, finished last.
“I understood that my first series did not go well and I should not focus on what has happened,” Sainyam said. “There was some difference in lighting in qualification as compared to the final range, and I knew I had to adjust. The key for me was to believe in what I have been doing in training. Post the silver medal in Doha, I had some low scores, but I knew I had to keep having belief in my process, and that worked for me today. Coach Samresh Jung has always told me to believe in the process, and that’s the winning mantra for me.”
Sainyam started shooting after watching her brother Akarshan train, and gave up on a career in medicine to follow him into it. She is a former junior Asian and junior world champion.
She missed out on next month’s Asian Games squad after NRAI’s trials, with the federation’s 30-shooter quota already filled by Esha Singh and Manu Bhaker across the 10m and 25m pistol events. Asked how it feels to compete against Bhaker and Singh, and against Phogat, for a place in the Indian team, Sainyam returned to the same idea that had carried her through the final.
“I have never thought about competing for my spot in the Indian team. I have only thought about my shooting and how I can improve,” she said. “Yes, I wanted to compete in the Asian Games, but that’s shooting. My aim is to win the Olympic quota for India at the World Championships in Doha later this year.”
