A constable posted with Noida Police has brought laurels to the country by winning Bronze medal in Badminton at the World Police and Fire Games in Netherlands' Rotterdam.
Gagan Kumar Paswan's sporting achievement gave the country another reason to cheer amid the Indian athletes' remarkable performance at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
A native of Bihar, Gagan won the medal in the Doubles event of Badminton along with another Indian-origin cop Sunil Dahiya who works with the New Zealand police.
Speaking to IANS, Gagan said: "This journey has not been easy... I have been following badminton since the age of seven. My father was stationed in Moradabad PAC. Since that time, I used to watch people practicing and wished to try my hands too.
"The games were organised in Rotterdam from July 22-31 and I participated on behalf of Uttar Pradesh police. The competition was tough but I managed to win."
Earlier also, Gagan had tried his luck but could not succeed. In the World Police Games in 2017 in Los Angeles, he was ranked fourth. In the same game in 2019 in China, he bagged the fifth place. Gagan had found himself just a few steps away from the success.
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The games saw participation of 1,000 players from around 70 countries. Over 150 badminton players from 18 countries took part in the games.
To convert his defeat into success, Gagan started practicing for four hours a day (two hours in the morning, and another 120 minutes in the evening).
In 2019, Gagan sought his posting in Noida from Moradabad as there were not many coaching centres.
After shifting to Noida, he was stationed in Civil Lines from where he used to go to a stadium in Delhi for training but that took a backseat during the Covid pandemic as the stadium was closed. He then began attending coaching classes in Sector 104, Noida, without letting his training hinder his professional commitments.
With a never-say-die attitude and consistent hard work, he finally tasted success.
Gagan was accorded a warm welcome by the Gautam Budh Nagar Police as he returned to Noida.
He was brought to Civil Lines in a flower-decked car where the police officers felicitated and congratulated him.
Noida Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Singh congratulated Gagan and recommended his name for DGP Disc award.
"Gautam Budh Nagar Police is proud of Gagan. We will make every possible effort that Gagan is provided with all facilities he requires by the police commissionerate. It's a proud moment for the Gautam Buddha police and we will encourage all the talented men in uniform and extend all possible cooperation to assist them moving forward," Singh told IANS.
--IANS
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