Rahi Sarnobat eyes Olympic comeback after battling health scare

“This dream was instilled in me for a reason. It’s not about proving anything to the world. I feel braver now because I have nothing to lose. I want to be remembered as someone who made things happen,” Rahi said on the House of Glory podcast, an initiative by the Gagan Narang Sports Foundation, led by the Hyderabadi and London Olympics bronze medallist.

Hyderabad: Two-time Olympian and shooter Rahi Sarnobat, who staged a stunning comeback from serious health issues to win the gold in the women’s 25m air pistol in the National Games in Dehradun this year, says that her goal now is to focus on herself to realise her Olympic dream.

“This dream has been planted in my system for a reason. This is not about proving to the world. I am more courageous as there is nothing to lose. I want to be remembered as a person who made things happen,” Rahi said in a House of Glory podcast, an initiative by Hyderabadi and London Olympics bronze medallist Gagan Narang Sports Foundation.

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The 32-year-old Maharashtra shooter had health issues in 2022 and found herself facing hot flashes and nerve pain. After weeks of feeling sensations all over her body, causing her tremendous pain, Rahi found herself being on bed rest, unable to find a diagnosis.

“We did not know which doctors to go to – we did ECG, cardio testing, routine tests – but everything was fine. Still, I was feeling terrible. I started feeling my neck pain, that I could not lie on bed and I had to sit and sleep for months. My medical team suggested consulting a neurologist,” Rahi revealed .

After weeks of neurological testing, Rahi was diagnosed with neuropathic pain.

“Neuropathic pain syndrome has no fixed pattern and no fixed line of treatment. It depends on case-to-case, and the medical history of every person. It makes it even more scary,” the pistol shooter said.

“I was sleeping for 17-20 hours for months. I was just staring at the ceiling for months. I could not live my normal life. I felt fear about being uncertain. You don’t know when the incident just happened for
certain months,” Rahi said.

This was not the first time Rahi had to make a comeback to the sport in her career.

Earlier, in 2014 she suffered a freak hairline fracture in the elbow of her shooting arm that took seven months to recover from and many more to begin shooting. She made her comeback from there, going on to win gold in the 2018 Asian Games and compete in her second Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.

“After a few months, the neurologist told me that I need to start physiotherapy despite the pain. My first exercise was sitting for 20 minutes and watching an episode of a TV show. I was even unable to do
so due to immense fatigue. The physiotherapist worked with me several hours a day,” Rahi said.