‘Happy I’m Able to Give Back Something to Shooting’: Gagan Narang
Veteran shooter Gagan Narang, along with Pawan Singh, received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar recently.
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Life has come a full circle for veteran Indian shooter Gagan Narang. From Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2011 to Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar this year, Narang has seen the best of both worlds.
On 29 August, Narang, along with Pawan Singh, received the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar from President Ramnath Kovind for his Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation (GNSPF), which trains budding shooters and looks after the development at grass root level.
Started in 2011 along with Pawan Singh, who is the joint secretary general of NRAI, GNSPF now has centres in 10 cities.
Speaking to The Quint on the sidelines of the National Sports Awards 2019, Narang said: “When I started the academy along with Pawan Singh, we kind of decided that we would address all the issues that we faced during our sporting career and address it in the small little way we can.”
Narang mentioned that stress has always been on providing world-class facilities and equipment to talented shooters at a subsidised cost. And he believes that the organisation has been successful in living up to their motto.
“We got foreign coaches from abroad to the academy. We got gunsmiths. We got the right kind of equipment at cheaper prices because then they can be given at a subsidised cost to shooters, who are talented or want to get into the sports,” said Narang.
Narang, who won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, is probably one of the few athletes who is mentoring young athletes as well as managing his own career at the same time. Despite the hectic schedule, Narang calls it a ‘blessing in disguise’.
“Everything revolves around shooting for me whether it is my shooting or mentoring other athletes. And I am happy to do that,” added Narang.
Narang said that training young kids at the shooting range is one of the best ways to spend free-time or break-time during practice.
Twenty-year-old Elavenil Valarivan, who recently won a gold in the 10m Air Rifle Women Junior at the recently concluded ISSF World Cup in Rio, is also a product of Narang’s academy.
Ela, as Narang addresses her, is part of the young brigade of Indian shooters, who are taking the world by storm. Manu Bhakar, Saurabh Chaudhury, Anish Bhanwala are the other young shooters who are changing the face of Indian shooting globally.
And as Narang puts it, the defining change that this new generation has brought in is in their thinking, their mentality and the confidence they have.
“The youngsters have no excess baggage behind them. I think they are pretty motivated and challenged in their own right and they already have performances to look up to,” said Narang.
Narang also credited ex-players and the national federation for the role they are playing in this development.
“And that is one particular aspect as to why we are able to produce youngsters who are winning medals. Number two, I think the federation has a very strong, solid junior development programme and that is producing results at the junior level,” added Narang.
Narang explained the whole process how Olympic qualification in shooting is different from other sports.
Narang was optimistic about India’s chances and said that the Indian contingent is much better prepared than for Rio.
But as far as his own chances of making it to his fifth Olympic was concerned, Narang was pretty realistic and practical about it.
“I am not thinking too far ahead. I am taking one step at a time. We have a couple of competition lined up so if I shoot well in the competitions, I will probably have a chance to Tokyo, but it is still a far-fetched plan,” Narang concluded.
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