The Hindu : Sport : Gagan the shutterbug

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 17, 2006

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Sport - Sports : General

Gagan the shutterbug

A. Joseph Antony

Gagan Narang... shooting photos for a change. — Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

HYDERABAD: This time, the cross-hairs weren't trained on bulls-eye, but Gagan Narang was in Melbourne to prove a point. That his growing stature in the world 10-metre air rifle arena was no transient tryst with greatness was established by a four-gold haul.

Away from the Melbourne International Club range, he went shooting. To the metro's shores he escaped, to `capture' the Twelve Apostles, natural formations in the sea surviving ravages of time and tide. So were India's exploits in the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, freeze-framed.

If power comes from the barrel of his Walther, so do portraits from the lens of his Canon 300D. That Gagan's a serious shutterbug is evident from his 10,000 plus image collection. Some of these have jaws dropping, even of news photographers.

Impressed by the snaps

Floored by these snaps, sports consultant Sunil Yash Kalra chose to write a book centred round them. The 120-page coffee table tome, titled `Commonwealth Dream-From Melbourne to New Delhi,' showcases the crack shot's penchant for photography and will be out soon.

The project was unveiled by Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar at the Australian High Commissioner's residence in Delhi. Wishing Gagan well on his maiden literary venture were the capital's glitterati, besides hockey wizard Dhanraj Pillay, Tarlochan Singh Bawa, member of India's 1948 Olympics winning team, Zafar Iqbal and Pargat Singh.

The ace marksman was delighted to meet Daler Mehndi. "Humming the title track of Rang de Basanti (originally rendered by Mehndi) inspired me immensely," he told the Bhangra Badshah.

Pawan Chaudhary's mental training routine too steeled him for triumph that continued to the World Cup at Guangzhou, China.

The book will be marketed online, on air and in print by SCORE, Kalra's sports management company.

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