The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Olympics is not the end of the road: Narang

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 19, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Olympics is not the end of the road: Narang

A. Joseph Antony

HYDERABAD: “The Olympics is not the end of the road,” said Gagan Narang, India’s youngest Olympian shooter, Guangzhou World Cup title-holder and quadruple gold-medallist at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Speaking to The Hindu shortly before his departure for a pre-Olympic training camp in Hanover, Germany, the Hyderabad crack-shot felt all wouldn’t be lost if he didn’t hit bulls-eye at Beijing. “In this sport that’s so mental, a shooter’s shelf-life can be pretty long,” he said, citing the example of seasoned Olympian Mansher Singh.

If the past pointed to the present and perhaps the future, Narang looked back at the first half of 2008 with satisfaction. Consistent form ensured his qualification scores never dipped below 595 out of 600. The first Indian ever to figure in a 50-metre three-position rifle final, he began the year with a 10-metre air rifle silver in the Munich Open.

Honourable show

In the Good Luck Beijing World Cup that followed, he claimed bronze in the same event, his tally of 700.3 just 0.5 and 0.4 points behind Olympic champion Qinan Zhu and American Matthew Emmons respectively.

He acquitted himself honourably in the 50m rifle 3p, finishing fifth. Now familiar with the Olympic venue’s conditions, he didn’t expect it to be as cold during the quadrennial games, as it was in March.

Laid low by pneumonia during the Hanover international shooting championship, he nonetheless combined well with Sanjeev Rajput and Abhinav Bindra for the 50m rifle 3p team gold. The back problem that plagued him was sorted out by Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh physio Syed Hashim Hussaini, known better as Javed.

Knocked out on countback a couple of times, he made the finals of most of the events he took part in, cracking 600/600 at Plzen, Czech Republic.

The strong showing in the Australia Cup only underscored his growing expertise in his chosen three events.

“Making the finals is a priority and competing with the cream of world shooters is very much in my comfort zone,” says an upbeat Narang, the first Indian marksman to qualify for the Beijing Games.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport