Shoot at sight

Rifle shooter Gagan Narang has lofty targets for 2010.

Time is one thing that Gagan Narang doesn’t have these days. Firing India to an impressive performance at the recently concluded Commonwealth Shooting Championships in New Delhi with four gold and two silver medals, Narang has now set his sights on the World Championships to be held at Munich in July, then the Asian Championships at Bangkok in August and finally the Commonwealth Games in October. In the middle of all this, the 26-year old has another challenge to contend with — books. The rifle shooter has enrolled for a long-distance MBA programme at a Delhi-based business school and says that “It’s something I have wanted to do for a long time.”

But he is not at all bogged down by time constraints. He follows a simple routine. Practice, practice, some more practice. When he is not practicing, he studies. Doesn’t that make life too boring for a 26-year old? Narang laughs at the question, and says that this is the path he has chosen for himself.

2010 could well be the momentous year in his career. There are 30 medals at stake and there’s not much doubt in his mind about the challenges that lie ahead. “You have to hit peak form at the right moment and there is no margin for error,” says the Hyderabad-based shooter.

Narang shot into the limelight when he won the gold medal at the inaugural Afro-Asian Games in 2003 at the age of 18. Since then he has won a plethora of medals — including four at the 2006 Commonwealth Games — and holds two world records in 10m rifle shooting. “I was always inclined towards sports and shooting fascinated me as a kid,” he says. Of course it hasn’t been smooth sailing. Shooting is an expensive sport, and he has often had to struggle to get enough bullets for practice or make trips abroad for better coaching. He is now supported by Olympic Gold Quest and says that they have been a “life-saver”.

Photography is another passion and Narang even has a illustrated book of his pictures. The book is also a tribute to the Indian triumph at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne to document India’s phenomenal medal haul — as Delhi gets ready to host the next edition. Photography helps him unwind. It also preserves memories, he says especially of friends who travel with him. “But the sad part is that I rarely get any good pictures of myself, because no one really knows how to use my camera,” he chuckles.

He is aware that expectations of Indian shooters in the last few years have been high. The last Commonwealth Championships showed how far India has come in shooting — there was an impressive haul of 49 medals. “Don’t forget,” he adds, “that we had most of the big names missing and still we did well.” He is right on that count. World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, Athens Games silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, world record holder in double trap Ronjan Sodhi, all gave the event a miss for one reason or another. Narang is optimistic of a good showing in New Delhi come October. “We have a good track record, some great shooters, so we should be able to get the right results,” he says.

Ironically, it’s the low points of his career that spur him on — like Beijing 2008, when he missed out on a medal by a mere three points. While 2010 is an important year in his career, it’s the London Olympics in 2012 which is his ultimate aim. He intends to keep the tradition of a shooter winning a medal at the Olympics alive. In between he wants to complete his MBA, and catalogue his collection of 30,000 photographs. Talk about targets!