Gagan Narang: 1st Indian to qualify for London Olympics

[m24]

Source: Times Of India

Coming back from the brim of uncertainty after being denied the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for the third time, world record holder Gagan Narang once again proved he is a true 'ratna' as he bagged the bronze medal in men's 10m air rifle in the World Shooting Championships in Munich on Saturday, overtaking some of the best in the business - including Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra.

Gagan's medal ensured India of a London Olympics quota place in the event, the first for the country for the 2012 Games.

Yet to recover from the shock news that he had lost out in the race for the Khel Ratna, Gagan said his first reaction was not to compete. "It was very, very disappointing. It is very unfair to treat a sportsperson like this. This is happening for the third time and first I thought I won't compete but then I'm no quitter and I thought I will let my rifle do the talking," Narang told TOI from Munich.

In 2009, Narang won a gold and bronze in World Cups and two gold medals in the shooting championship. This year he won the bronze in a World Cup and bagged six gold and two silver medals in the Commonwealth Shooting championships. For the last two years, he also holds the world record of 600/600.
"I talked to my coach (Stanislav Lapidus), Sunny sir and my friends - it was they who helped me change my mood," he said.

National coach Sunny Thomas said he was very worried about Gagan. "He didn't start for long. he started firing after others fired some 25 rounds. He would hold the gun take aim but wouldn't shoot. I was getting nervous as I have never seem him like that," Thomas said. Each shooter gets only 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete 60 rounds.

"He was so upset. Just five minutes before the match he came to me and said that he was feeling very low. 'I'm feeling sad as they have done injustice to me', Gagan said," Thomas added.

Commenting on his effort, Gagan said he was quite satisfied. "I faced a lot of problems in the last one month when I even broke my rifle. I didn't have a great final but it's okay," said Gagan. The Indian, ranked second in the world, shot 597 in the preliminary round and added 102 in the final to total 699 that put him in the third place behind Italian World No. 4 Niccollo Campriani 702.5 (599 + 103.5) and No. 5 Hungarian Peter Sidi 700.4 (599 + 101.4).

Narang's much anticipated clash with defending champion and Olympic gold medallist Bindra failed to materialise as Bindra failed to make the final. The Beijing winner only managed a below par score of 593 (99, 99, 100, 99, 98, 98) and settled for the 25th spot. "I thought we were the team to beat. But somehow he (Bindra) didn't click," said Gagan who was congratulated by Abhinav.

Narang was spot on in the preliminary round as he rattled up perfect 100s in the first three rounds. The Hyderabad marksman missed a shot each in the next three as he settled for 597/600. In the final, Gagan had a poor second shot of 9.4 but he rallied superbly to get into the medal bracket. The Indian, who was lying in sixth place at one stage, came up with a 10.0 in his last shot that put him 0.1 point ahead of Chinese Olympic silver medallist and World No. 1 Qinan Zhu.

The third Indian in the fray, Imran Hassan Khan, ended 49th with a total of 590. Gagan's superb show took India to fourth place in the team standings - with a total of 1780 points - behind China (1787 points), Russia (1787) and Italy (1782).

Regards

[thomast1]

Bindra failed to make it to finals
Concentrating on business, maybe