The Hindu : Sport : Narang

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 05, 2006

Sport

Sport

Narang — shooting glory

A. Joseph Antony

Jolting the Chinese in China was thrilling, says the World No. 1

- PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

MEDALS OF DIFFERENT HUE: Gagan Narang with the medals he won at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Hyderabad: Gagan Narang is No. 1 in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) men's 10 metre air rifle rankings, according to its latest update on its website. The champion crackshot's rating points of 1184 are a full 20 ahead of Athens Olympics gold medallist Qinan Zhu, his Chinese compatriot Tianyou Liu coming in third at 976.

The climb to the top began Down Under, at the Melbourne International Shooting Club (MISC). At this very venue, owned by famed shooter and coach Tibor Gonczol, the Hyderabad marksman struck gold four times in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in March.

In February, he had a golden double in the Australia Cup, claiming the 10-metre air and 50 metre rifle three position crowns. After that golden brace, he had an encore in the Surendra Singh championships at Delhi. But not a line appeared in the nation's media to record that victory, as signals of his peaking form continued to be ignored.

Home away from home

The MISC is home away from home, where he does what he likes and likes what he does. Such as breaking three CWG records last month, just as he erased his pet event's milestone here in the Commonwealth shooting championships last year. Its surface is near sacred as he spruced up the place, clearing up the shells after practice and performance.

The south Australian city taught him more than a lesson or two. Like what frame of mind to adopt when entering a competition, how not to set predetermined targets, when he could actually do better than those. Most importantly, his feats took him to another plane, mentally.

"Expectations soar even after wins," he said in Hyderabad on his return from the World Cup conquest in Guanghzhou, that catapulted him to the pinnacle. "I'd rather meet my own targets," he said thoughtfully and perhaps realistically too. "Jolting the Chinese in China was thrilling though," he added. The trip to his hometown for a day was to be with his dad, B.S. Narang, who Gagan won't see until May.

The 22-year-old's show has been outstanding, just as his spiked hair, streaked bronze, `stands out.'

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