Gagan Narang’s bronze medal-winning feat at the London Games has set a new milestone for the 32 trainees at his academy, Gun for Glory, and they would now look to better it in future, said the academy’s founder-director Pawan Singh.
It was celebration time for the academy situated at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports complex in Balewadi as the trainees distributed sweets and danced to drumbeats after their role model clinched the bronze.
The 35-year-old Pawan said the bronze completed the collection as an Olympic medal was the only thing missing from Narang’s cabinet.
“He had won the world championships, World Cup, Asian Games, Asian championship and Commonwealth Games but the Olympic medal was missing. It completes the list,” said an elated Pawan.
“For the trainees who look up to Narang, it will be a milestone which they would look to challenge and better in future. It’s a huge motivation for them,” he added.
The Gun for Glory shooting academy was set up by Narang and Pawan in May, 2011, and the shooters from the academy have so far won 67 international medals.
Out of the 11 shooters in London, four are from the Gun for Glory academy, including Annu Raj Singh, Rahi Sarnobat and Heena Sidhu apart from Narang himself.
Hopeful
“We are very happy with this bronze though we were expecting a gold for Gagan,” Pawan said. “We feel that Sarnobat and Annu Raj would also put up a great show.”
With Narang competing in two more events — 50m prone and 50m 3-position — Pawan expected the marksman to win at least one more medal.
“50m prone is very unpredictable. Anything can happen. But, we are very hopeful in 3-position where he has worked very hard on his positioning (kneeling).
“He has done well in 3P in the past. We want him to win at least one more medal,” he said.
He also admitted that he expected Gagan to bring laurels to the country after a disappointing result in Beijing four years ago where he failed to qualify for the final. — PTI
