Having beaten Covid-19, young shooting sensation Saurabh Chaudhary looking forward to Tokyo 2020

Tokyo-bound shooter Saurabh Chaudhary has recovered from Covid-19 and resumed light training at his home range in Meerut.

"Now that my younger brother has recovered, he has started light training,'' his elder brother Nitin Chaudhary told The Times of India.

The 2018 Asian Games gold medallist made a cut for the Tokyo 2020 after clinching the top podium spot at the ISSF World Cup, New Delhi in 2019.

Chaudhary was in fine form at the 2021 ISSF World Cup in New Delhi last month.The 18-year-old won silver in the 10m air pistol event and clinched gold medals in the 10m mixed team event (with Manu Bhaker) and air pistol men's team (Shahzar Rizvi and Abhishek Verma).

After the completion of the event, he complained of some physical issues and on being tested, the reports came out positive for Covid-19. It was a major shock for most of his family members, Nitin recalled, as they thought Saurabh might be infected with some seasonal flu.

"He (Saurabh) Chaudhary played his last event at the shooting World Cup on March 22, after which we returned home to Meerut the next day. Saurabh later complained of some weakness and pain in his eyes. He didn't show any Covid-related symptoms like fever, low oxygen level or loss of smell and taste. Overall, he looked fine," Nitin recalled.

"Still, we didn't want to take any chance with the virus and went for the precautionary RT-PCR testing in Meerut for our own satisfaction. It was around March 28-29 that his sample was collected and it came out positive for Covid the next day to our surprise

"Honestly, the report came as a shocker to us. We were pretty sure that it won't be Covid but some seasonal flu. We weren't sure if he got infected during the World Cup. After his positive report, other family members, too, got themselves tested and thankfully, everyone else returned negative. After completing his self-isolation period, he was tested again for Covid around April 7-8 and, this time, he came out negative," he added.

"He (Saurabh Chaudhary) didn't train for 10 days after testing positive. Even now, he's mainly focusing on light training as suggested by the coach....don't want to rush into anything. He's training at the home-range for 2-3 hours daily, allowing his body to recover," Nitin said.

"On normal occasions, he would begin his daily routine at 5 in the morning, with shooting practice time reserved between 8 am and 12 pm and then another session in the evening from 3 pm to 6 pm," he added.

His family, however, ensured that Saurabh remained in high spirits during the isolation and kept on motivating him during the testing times.

"During his isolation time, the family members kept on motivating him that 'you don't have to worry about the virus and this can happen to anyone'. We told him that the 'important part is to remain calm and stress-free'. With the Olympics around, it's important to keep his spirits high," Nitin said.

At 18, Chaudhary will make his maiden appearance at the Olympics in Tokyo, and a lot will be expected from him as he has performed well at the world stage in the recent past.