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Faridabad. India's former Asian Games gold medalist double-trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi has described India's target of winning 30 to 40 medals in the Olympics 2036 as very difficult at present. He says that to achieve this goal, India is still lagging behind in the level at which talent needs to be identified and prepared.

India is strongly presenting its claim to host the 2036 Olympics. In this context, Sodhi raised questions on the country's sports preparedness and the process of finding talent and said that merely setting targets is not enough, but for this, work will have to start at the grassroots level from now.

'30 to 40 medals is still a distant dream'

Speaking to PTI on Tuesday, Sodhi said that no one can be stopped from dreaming, but considering the current situation, winning 30 to 40 medals in the Olympics seems a distant dream.

He said that India performed well in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, but the country still has a long way to go to compete at the world level.

According to him, India needs to develop a strong sporting culture instead of just focusing on winning medals.

Preparations for 2036 will have to start now

Sodhi said that 2036 is about 10 years away from now and this time is very important to groom talent. He believes that India should start identifying talents from now on.

He suggested that the government and sports federations should prepare such programs under which senior shooters and experienced people associated with the sports field should be sent to schools. There, potential talents can be discovered and identified and proper training can be provided to them.

'We're already late'

Sodhi said India was lagging behind in its 10-year plan to identify talent. According to him, if a large number of medals are to be won in the 2036 Olympics, then talents will have to be identified from an early age and prepared systematically over a long period of time.

He also said that the seriousness with which the government is submitting its claim to host the Olympics 2036 shows the possibility of India getting the hosting rights. But after getting the hosting, the country will face a big challenge to develop a strong sports culture.

India's best performance in Olympics is seven medals

Till now, India has not been able to reach double figures in the number of medals in any Olympics. The country's best performance was in the Tokyo Olympics 2021, where Indian players won a total of seven medals, including one gold.

In such a situation, the target of winning 30 to 40 medals in 2036 will be a huge leap compared to the current performance.