How Asian Games-bound Rahi Sarnobat is rediscovering her mojo at 35

In 2022, Rahi Sarnobat faced nerve pain that left her bedridden. Multiple tests later, a diagnosis was made – neuropathic pain, an ailment that came with no set plan of recovery. (Photo: Rahi Sarnobat Instagram)

If you belong to the upper echelon of Indian pistol shooters, making it to the national team is nowhere near as tough as making a comeback to that level. The second act is what has always been the real hurdle. Jitu Rai will allude to its difficulty: Saurabh Chaudhary is still trying to regain all that he lost – his partner Abhishek Verma is now a footnote in India’s Olympic pistol shooting. Amid those stories of Indian pistol wielders waylaid along their path to an Olympic medal, Rahi Sarnobat is scripting her own return – one where she judges success from a different plane to her first stint within the sport.

But first, some context. In 2022, the Maharashtra shooter faced a nerve pain that left her bedridden. Multiple tests later, a diagnosis was made – neuropathic pain were the words uttered to her, an ailment that came with no set plan of recovery. Each body was different, and each path of recovery its own. It took a long time for Rahi to be rid of the pain she was constantly under and when the pain left her body, the desire to get back to a shooting range followed. It’s only as recent as 2025 when the Indian pistol shooter was completely off medication.

But things would have to be done differently this time around.

“Now my technique is different. My body is different. My thinking is different. My approach is different,” says Sarnobat.

“Now my priority is listening to my body more. I’m listening to signals which our body and mind give us. I’m listening to that more than ever because I feel that the amount of stress we have in general as competitive athletes is too much,” says the 35-year-old. “We tend to ignore these signals because we have to perform. We cannot take off or we cannot take a break. But then eventually it takes a load on the nervous system. And that is what has happened with me. So, now not anymore,” she declares.

“I feel right now because in this period when I was not well. I have learnt so much about neuroplasticity and neurology. That now I can sense when my body and my mind is under stress. And I know when I have to stop and take one more day of rest. It’s not always about taking a break but maybe breaking some pattern and restarting again. Or using meditation, or swimming or music. Something to make my nervous system relax. Because again as I said, if you listen, it’s always giving you signals. It’s just that we ignore it,” says Sarnobat.

For many of the ‘older heads’ in India’s shooting team heading to the Asian Games, stress and managing the constancy of losing their spot to a domestic challenger have been the bigger challenges. For Rudrankksh Patil, stress led to tremors when entering a shooting range – an issue that opened his eyes to prioritising his recovery. Pistol shooter Anish Bhanwala felt the stress of domestic competitions in his event, but had to tell himself that he was one of the best India had produced and that a break, or choosing to recover, wouldn’t change his ability to pick his gun up after time out of the range, and rediscover his old ways.

Story continues below this ad

Regaining stamina

For Sarnobat, the challenge was different. Hers involved the act of regaining stamina at a shooting range. When the shoots of her comeback started to spring, all that was possible was for her to stand for one minute and take aim – hardly the hallmark of an elite shooter.

“My first goal was to reach the quantity and the duration because without quantity I don’t think we can really work on the quality. So, that’s how I started, and it took me approximately 13 to 14 months to reach the stage where I could shoot for five to six hours. I would say that from the last national championship, I have been able to work on the quality of my shooting and that has resulted in me being the part of the team and getting better results,” says Sarnobat.

India’s shooting team is prone to its changes. A brief glance at the Asian Games squad that went to Hangzhou, and now the one set to fly to Aichi-Nagoya tells the tale. New faces, new names – some athletes with only a year of international competitions to their record before reaching a multi-sport continental event – there are certain events where the inexperience is telling.

Sarnobat took her time. She regained her spot in the national team – one which she had never truly lost in the first place. Winning the T4 trials put her right behind Esha Singh and Manu Bhaker in the race to be a top-three 25m pistol shooter, and put her into the Asian Games mix. Part of her return is down to the work done by her neurologist, her physios and personal coach Jelena Arunovic, who fortuitously also works with the Indian pistol team now.

Story continues below this ad

Youth challenge

But the comeback to the big leagues has in large part also been down to her willingness to take the challenge of younger, vaunted shooters. Rahi’s confidence shot up when she took all the shots that were listed in her name at the national shooting camp in Dehradun – one of the few shooters at the camp that stuck to their quantity of shots.

Then there was the quiet confidence that came from within. Knowing what to chop, and when not to change was crucial. “I am the oldest in the team. And as for the young generation, I think I know more ways of not doing certain things,” said Sarnobat.

“I cannot train in the same pattern or same manner as I did in my 20s. And now it’s my 22nd year in the game. So, I have to consider the way I use my body and my mind. I mean even as a person and a shooter, I feel this is a totally different journey. And sometimes I cannot even relate to these two phases of my life,” she said. “Earlier if someone gave me advice that my shooting could get better by doing something different, I wouldn’t have listened to them. But now it’s totally from scratch,” she added.