The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Gagan Narang upstages Farnik

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 08, 2007
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Sport - Shooting

Gagan Narang upstages Farnik

— Photo: AFP

Gagan Narang.

HYDERABAD: India’s Gagan Narang upstaged 10 metre air rifle world record holder Thomas Farnik in the Bundesliga, the German league, last week. Turning out for Affalterbach, the Hyderabad crackshot logged 396 against the Austrian’s 389.

Significantly this feat was accomplished amidst the din of the festive atmosphere at the sports hall in Petersaurach, about 150 kms from Stuttgart. The pressure told on Farnik as it did on his HSG Munchen teammate Sonja Pfeilschifter, another sharpshooter, whose tally dropped to 397 against the perfect 400 she shoots fairly frequently in international competition.

Gagan scored 100 in the opening series, piling the pressure on Farnik, who could manage about 97. In the subsequent cards, Narang, a former World No. 1 and Melbourne Commonwealth Games quadruple gold medallist, posted scores of 98, 98 and rounded off with another perfect 100. With his pulse rate touching 140 at times, Gagan effectively shut out disturbance from cheerleaders rooting for him, music and commentary on the public address system. That kept him abreast of the vagaries of competition, apart from scores, this format diametrically opposite to that of the Olympics and other International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) events, where silence is golden and shooters compete against themselves in near solitude.

In the second match, Gagan outgunned Sabrina Bar, 396-387 in his side’s face-off with SG Coburg. His showing has elevated him to the top gun slot in his side, which takes on formidable Petersaurach on November 17 for the third leg of the competition. The Guangzhou World Cup winner will then face Christian Planer, also from Austria and a gold medallist in the Resende World Cup in Brazil last year.

Gagan described the event as the most exciting he has shot in so far. His side, Affalterbach, until recently was sponsored by auto giant Mercedes Benz’s associate, AMG. — Special Correspondent

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