Indian shooters at Doha's city centreDateline DOHA
Indian shooters finally heaved a sigh of relief when India’s best bet and veteran shooter Jaspal Rana shot a gold in the men’s 25m Standard Pistol event at the Lusail Shooting Complex, yesterday.
Indian shooting coach must be a happy man now as the Indian national anthem was sung for the first time at the venue. Indian shooters have a rich haul of one gold, five silver and six bronze medals at the penultimate day of the Asian Games shooting as compared to two silver medals in Busan Asian Games.
But yesterday was the day of Jaspal Rana. He proved that class remains permanent. A down to earth shooter, Rana added another gold to his collection of Hiroshima Asian Games gold medal, which he won breaking the 15-year-old record of now Indian Olympic Association Secretary General Randhir Singh of India. This is India’s first shooting gold since 1994.
Rana scored 574 points to fetch the gold, comfortably. With this, he become the first Indian to win the two Asiad golds in shooting. “I was not well, but I tried my best to shoot well and concentrate on my technique. So my team should not lose a medal,” said an elated Rana after the victory.
Day before the D-day, Rana was indisposed with fever his body temperature shooting up to 103-degree Fahrenheit. Despite this he decided to shoot for the bull’s eye with élan. In the team event, Rana along with Samaresh Jung and Ronak Pandit smashed the silver and in the men’s 3 position rifle event Gagan Narang strike bronze.
However, when questioned about his return to form, Rana lashed out saying, “It’s not a come back of sorts for me. I was always in form. The problem is of providing quality ammunition and adequate training facilities for the shooters.”
About future plans, he said “I haven’t planned yet. I will go back to India and will devote time to the shooters in my academy, so that in future they seldom face problems that we faced.”
Meanwhile, Gagan Narang became the fifth Indian individual medalist in men’s shooting at Doha 2006. Gagan’s bronze also marked the first medal for an Indian shooter in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.
“This is my first individual medal at the event, so I feel good,” he said. Talking about his performance in the final, Gagan said, “I didn’t have any strategy. I just concentrated on my game.”
Gagan, who is known for shooting under pressure, was lying in fifth position after the qualification. “I was in a difficult position after the the qualification, especially as I was not good with kneeling. It was regrettable that I was not getting top scores in qualification.
“I noticed that I was about three points behind Igor Pirekeev after qualification, It was a big difference. I didn’t think of him and just concentrated on my shot during the final period. I was thinking only about myself. I didn’t give up until the end.”
Indian shooting coach must be a happy man now as the Indian national anthem was sung for the first time at the venue. Indian shooters have a rich haul of one gold, five silver and six bronze medals at the penultimate day of the Asian Games shooting as compared to two silver medals in Busan Asian Games.
But yesterday was the day of Jaspal Rana. He proved that class remains permanent. A down to earth shooter, Rana added another gold to his collection of Hiroshima Asian Games gold medal, which he won breaking the 15-year-old record of now Indian Olympic Association Secretary General Randhir Singh of India. This is India’s first shooting gold since 1994.
Rana scored 574 points to fetch the gold, comfortably. With this, he become the first Indian to win the two Asiad golds in shooting. “I was not well, but I tried my best to shoot well and concentrate on my technique. So my team should not lose a medal,” said an elated Rana after the victory.
Day before the D-day, Rana was indisposed with fever his body temperature shooting up to 103-degree Fahrenheit. Despite this he decided to shoot for the bull’s eye with élan. In the team event, Rana along with Samaresh Jung and Ronak Pandit smashed the silver and in the men’s 3 position rifle event Gagan Narang strike bronze.
However, when questioned about his return to form, Rana lashed out saying, “It’s not a come back of sorts for me. I was always in form. The problem is of providing quality ammunition and adequate training facilities for the shooters.”
About future plans, he said “I haven’t planned yet. I will go back to India and will devote time to the shooters in my academy, so that in future they seldom face problems that we faced.”
Meanwhile, Gagan Narang became the fifth Indian individual medalist in men’s shooting at Doha 2006. Gagan’s bronze also marked the first medal for an Indian shooter in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.
“This is my first individual medal at the event, so I feel good,” he said. Talking about his performance in the final, Gagan said, “I didn’t have any strategy. I just concentrated on my game.”
Gagan, who is known for shooting under pressure, was lying in fifth position after the qualification. “I was in a difficult position after the the qualification, especially as I was not good with kneeling. It was regrettable that I was not getting top scores in qualification.
“I noticed that I was about three points behind Igor Pirekeev after qualification, It was a big difference. I didn’t think of him and just concentrated on my shot during the final period. I was thinking only about myself. I didn’t give up until the end.”
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