Indian Shooters Olympic Triumph Have Inspired the Country’s New Generation: Gagan Narang | Exclusive – News18

The Paris Olympics 2024 will hold a special place for Gagan Narang. After finishing at the podium in the London Games in 2012, Narang returned to the Olympics 12 years later as the Chef de Mission for the Indian contingent in Paris. And ironically enough, Narang’s bronze remained the last shooting medal for India as the Indian shooting contingent drew a blank in 2016 and 2020. But in 2024, India finally ended its long drought of an Olympic shooting medal.

India waited over a decade until Manu Bhaker secured twin bronze medals in Paris, while Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh also made it to the podium. Although Arjun Babuta narrowly missed a medal, his performance sparked hope for further glory at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

The Paris Games 2024 was a roller-coaster for Narang, with Indian shooters making history and the heartbreak of Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification. In an exclusive interview with News18 Sports, Narang reflected on Bhaker, Kusale, and Sarabjot’s success, the near-misses, Phogat’s disappointment, and more.

Here are the edited excerpts:

How was your experience as the Indian contingent’s CDM in Paris?

It was a very memorable experience for me. It was a different kind of challenge which I enjoyed very much.

⁠Manu Bhaker ended India’s medals drought in Shooting since your medal at the 2012 London Games and Sarabjot and Swapnil had podium finishes – you must have felt good – was it like a monkey off the back after two Games without a medal for India’s largest contingent at the Games?

Watching the shooters shine for India at the Paris Olympics was fantastic. They ended a long medal drought and I believe this performance will only get better. Manu was outstanding to win back-to-back medals, this shows how much she has evolved as a shooter since Tokyo. Sarabjot too was impressive and showed great resilience. I have also closely watched Swapnil, we competed together and I knew he had it in him to excel on a platform like the Olympics. I was also impressed with Arjun Babuta, though he could not medal, he did extremely well. These performances have also inspired a new generation of shooters training in different centres in the country.

⁠NRAI adopted the trial winners over Olympic quota place winners for selection– do you think that was one of the main reasons for the improved show this time around? Your take on it?

I have spoken about this before, fair trials were held to pick the best in the country.

⁠Specifically in the Rifle event – Swanpil’s medal means India now has three Olympic medals in Pistol and three in Rifle. Swapnil was not talked about much before the start, but surprised everyone; on the other hand, there were high hopes from Sift Kamra. Your thoughts on their performances and India’s rifle shooting landscape?

Yes, there were expectations from Sift and, unfortunately, she didn’t have the best outing. A lot of factors matter in events like the Olympic Games and much of it also has to do with how you can handle the pressure at this level. She is one of the finest we have in the country and she can bounce back from this outing. I believe the prospects of shooting are on an upward surge. We have better facilities these days and have good scouting programmes. The Khelo India events and TOPS have also added to this surge. Our training programmes at the grassroots have also evolved.

Overall, India did not match Tokyo Tally but had six 4th-place finishes. How do you look at it – heartbreaks or signs that Indian athletes are getting closer and closer?

I see this as a sign of our athletes getting closer to the podium. At the Olympics, there are very fine margins between the top eight finishes and I am delighted we have surged in our performances. We now need to work on increasing the number of participants at the Olympic Games.

⁠The Vinesh Phogat saga will probably go down as the most unfortunate incident in Indian Olympic history. What was your first reaction when you got to know about Vinesh’s disqualification?

It was a heartbreaking incident at the time, and my immediate concern was about her well-being. My first reaction was to check on her physical and mental well-being.

⁠About Vinesh’s disqualification; besides the disappointment, how big do you think is this a lesson for those who will be eyeing a spot in the LA28?

Every sport is unique and has its own challenges… in shooting the weight of the rifle cannot be over 5.5 kg, not a gram more. And every sport has its own technical rules and challenges which we as athletes are used to mitigating. It was very unfortunate and I hope that it never happens again.

⁠Tell us about ‘Gun for Glory’. What was the idea behind its setup?

Gun for Glory is a top-notch shooting academy and our aim has always been to foster the sport of shooting by nurturing young talent at the appropriate time to produce future stars in the shooting world. We offer a comprehensive range of training programs and facilities designed to help shooters at all levels develop their skills and achieve their goals.

We believe athlete development is a holistic process and it includes many factors like highly accomplished coaches, supportive organizations and experienced Sports Science experts. Keeping this in mind, Gun for Glory takes pride in having its own sports science unit including highly qualified Sports Physiotherapists, Sport Psychologists, Strength and Conditioning Coaches and Sports Nutritionists.

We also have advanced Sport Science Equipment. The entire sports science unit is vigilant about an athlete’s holistic well-being and performance enhancement along with injury prevention.