'Jaspal Rana was way beyond scoresheets...': Gagan Narang

Gagan Narang

Even as India's shooting fraternity mourned the passing of Jaspal Rana on Friday and highlighted his multiple medal-winning achievements, London Olympics bronze medal-winning rifle shooter Gagan Narang offered some exclusive insights into the personality of the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games multiple medal-winning shooter.

"Scoresheets don't always reveal the complete story. In fact, Jaspal Rana was way beyond scoresheets," Narang told mid-day on Friday.

A young Jaspal Rana in the 1990s when he won a host of international medals to become the posterboy of Indian shooting. Pic/mid-day archives

"We spent a lot of fun moments together on shooting ranges across the world. Jaspal was known to be loud and sharp with his comments. In fact, at times, he would be blunt to the point of being rude, but if you did whatever he said, you would only improve as a shooter," added Narang, who also hailed Rana, who, as a teenager, showed the world that an Indian could rule the sport. Rana was just 17 when he bagged a gold medal in the 25m center fire pistol event at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games in Japan.

"Long before pressure training became fashionable in shooting, Rana was brilliant at it, particularly in helping shooters to cut out all the noise before a big final. Jaspal helped any shooter who approached him because he believed in giving back to the sport that gave him so much. The world nowadays is filled with so many superficial people, but Jaspal was as genuine as they come," Narang concluded.

15
No. of medals Jaspal Rana won across four Commonwealth Games (1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006)