If India's shooting followers thought there is fierce rivalry between these two aces,they better forget it!

It's not Bindra vs Narang

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It's not Bindra vs Narang

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If India's shooting followers thought there is fierce rivalry between these two aces,they better forget it!

Abhinav Bindra,Gagan Narang

In fact, according to team sources, Olympic champion Bindra and World record holder Narang are anything but rivals. The third Indian in the 10m Air Rifle event is World No 9 Sanjeev Rajput.

"There is absolutely no rivalry between Abhinav and Gagan or for that matter even Sanjeev. In fact, Abhinav and Gagan always spend a lot of time together, exchanging ideas, notes and sometime even equipment. Of course in the range they have to compete against each other, but that's not rivalry," a member close to the Indian shooting contingent told MiD DAY yesterday.u00a0

Bindra rewrote the history books of Indian sport when he clinched the country's first individual Olympic gold at the Beijing Games in 2008. Narang was in that line-up too, but failed to make it to the finals on countback and was subsequently forced to sit in the stands and watch Bindra shoot gold. Two years later, he'd have his revenge though, when he raised nearly two billion Indian eyebrows by beating Bindra in the very same 10 m Air Rifle event at last month's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

C'mon Bindra
Narang went on to bag as many as four gold medals at CWG 2010. Meanwhile, Bindra too would have realised that it's high time he lived up to his Beijing gold, and what better time and place to do it than on his first return to the country where he created history in 2008. Rajput, on the other hand, has been quite consistent performer, which is proved by his Top 10 rankings. Together the trio will also be representing India in the team event that takes place later today.

"But, the word 'rivalry', as is being widely highlighted does not exist among them," informed a member of the Indian shooting contingent here. "Only two days ago, Sanjeev was out of ammunition during practice at the shooting range and would have had to go all the way back to the armory to replenish his stock. But instead he simply walked to the next shooting lane, where Abhinav was training and asked him to lend him some of his pellets.

"Abhinav uses the best quality pellets and could have easily and politely turned down Sanjeev's request, if he considered him a rival, but he didn't. The same goes for Gagan too. The trio share information and discuss strategies regularly. Rivals don't do that," explained the source.

Looks like India's hot shot trio is all set to shoot for that yellow metal today, together! And as for the individual gold, coach Sunny Thomas summed it up aptly: "I don't think it would matter, which one among the three clinch gold as long as it's an Indian."