The Hindu : Sport : Rana shoots India's fourth gold

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Friday, Dec 08, 2006
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Rana shoots India's fourth gold

Kamesh Srinivasan

Recaptures the old magic to pin the 25-metre standard pistol title

— Photo: AFP

RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL: Jaspal Rana recaptured his form of yore as he shot brilliantly to snare the 25m standard pistol gold.

DOHA: He may be a forgotten hero, but champions are for ever. Jaspal Rana recaptured the old magic to pin the 25-metre standard pistol gold with a 574 in the 15th Asian Games at the Lusail Shooting Range here on Thursday.

Like the rain in the deserts in these parts, a gold from shooting had become a rarity for the Indian contingent. Nobody could get the second gold in the 12 years after the then 18-year-old Rana shot the centrefire pistol gold at Hiroshima in 1994. He had to do it himself as the big names failed to nail the elusive gold.

Incidentally, Rana's gold was the only individual gold medal for the entire contingent in Hiroshima, and he returned to a hero's welcome. Understandably so, as no Indian was good enough to get an individual gold in the previous edition at Beijing as well.

Second to none

The 30-year-old Rana, generally felt to be distracted by a hundred things on his mind including a stint in politics, showed that when he put his mind to it he was second to none.

After starting well with rounds of 96 in the 150-second series, Rana was at his best in the difficult 10-second series and wound up with a 98 to beat Byung Taek Park of Korea by three points for the gold.

"He is one of the most talented shooters in the world. He has shot remarkably well, despite being down with fever. He has lifted the team to the silver as both Samaresh Jung and Ronak Pandit shot below par, 558 each. They generally shoot around 570. We missed the gold by six points," said national coach Prof. Sunny Thomas, as he summed up the scenario.

He was also happy that his words about the number and quality of medals were coming true. He had said a minimum of five medals. The shooting squad had taken its tally to one gold, five silver and six bronze medals, as Gagan Narang clinched the free rifle 3-position individual bronze with top class last two shots of 10.7 and 10.6 in the final and the team captured the bronze, missing the silver by a solitary point.

Narang's showing

Narang shot an 1162 in the qualifying phase, three points short of Sanjeev Rajput's national record of 1165. Rajput himself shot 1154 and Imran Hasan Khan 1140. Narang would have been fighting for the gold ahead of the Chinese, but for a 375 kneeling after 393 in prone and 388 in standing.

"The media was asking me about the promised gold after the doubletrap. I said wait. They wanted to know which were the events that gold was coming. I told them that there were enough events left for us to get the gold," said Prof. Thomas.

Elated

Though sick, Rana himself was elated to be back basking in the attention. "After almost 14 years of training I have won the gold medal in this event. I have been sick for three days. I feel so tired, but am happy with the score," said Rana even as he added that he had to wake up at 4 a.m. to take medicine. He had won the world championship junior gold in this event in 1994 in Milan.

"I just concentrated on my technique. As I was dizzy, I couldn't think of anything, anyway," said Rana who has played a key role in building up the sport in the country with his consistent medal-winning efforts over the years, especially at the Commonwealth and SAF Games.

The results: 25m Standard pistol: 1. Jaspal Rana 574; 2. Byung Taek Park (Kor) 571; 3. Vladimir Issachenko (Kaz) 570; 18. Ronak Pandit 558; 19. Samaresh Jung 558. Team: 1. Korea 1696; 2. India 1690; 3. Thailand 1686.

50m rifle 3-position: 1. Zhang Fu (Cn) 1268 (1170); 2. Zhang Lei (Chn) 1266.8 (1165); 3. Gagan Narang 1261.9 (1162); 9. Sanjeev Rajput 1154; 18. Imran Hasan Khan 1140. Team: 1. China 3494; 2. Kazakhstan 3457; 3. India 3456.

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