Back on target

For Narang,the months following the Olympics werent just about stepping out of Bindras golden shadow. He rapidly racked up perfect scores a 600 in Thailand and a pair of 400s in the German League were bagged in a space of two months. The 2006 world No 1 in the 10 m air-rifle,having reasserted his claim,then started on the small-bore events,and grabbed Indias first gold medal in the 50 m 3-Position event at the Korea World Cup earlier this month.
Urged by Indias former India coach Laszlo Szucsak in late 2005,Narang had picked up the two new events (50m 3-position and 50m prone),and this recent medal has put his three-pronged assault back on track.

Before becoming the first shooter to clinch a Beijing spot in 2006,Narang had quickly jumped into the limelight as Indias first medallist at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games in his hometown Hyderabad. Over the next three years,he penned a coffee-table book within days of returning from the 2006 Commonwealth Games with a clutch of medals,and developed a reputation as a prolific lensman,clicking with a speed to rival the pace at which he completes his round in the prone event. What should ordinarily take more than an hour,Narang,when in rhythm,can shoot in 20-25 minutes.

EARLY START
Narang was 12 when he took a liking to shooting after bursting show-balloons pinned to a board on Chennais Marina beach while on vacation. Enrolling at Hyderabads Country Club,Narang shrugged off his teen years engaged in his first struggles as a serious shooter. He needed to nail down grades at college,as he juggled studies with shooting,and it took some convincing from his school principal for his parents to let the boy travel to Phillaur,Punjab for the GV Mavlankar tourney Indias best stepping-stone opportunity.
Jaspal Rana was his first hero (so he dabbled in pistol-shooting too) and Nancy Johnson and Anjali Vedpathak were his first rifle-wielding idols on the Olympic stage. The hunger to win at the biggest stage,however,had come even earlier he has vivid memories of Barcelona 1992,when paralympic archer Antonio Rebello fired a flaming arrow to light the Olympic torch.

His maiden Olympic sojourn,to Athens,and without ever having shot at the Commonwealth or Asian Games,was a wide-eyed school-boy experience. My first lesson from the Athens Olympics was to plan ahead. I had neither proper planning,nor a coach then, Narang remembers. The journey,learning from his losses,taught him that the Beijing failure could,at best,be a headache to be treated by piecing together a bounce-back plan. It couldnt be a lasting heartburn.
I was in top form and we were training intensively heading into Beijing. But like they say,no matter how much you train and how hard you work,you can only hope to be in the finals and hope things go your way. And that day was not mine, Narang says.

GETTING THE FIRE BACK
Narang heads to Hannover for an experimental trial next week,to catch up with the worldwide trend of shooters using three separate batches of ammunition for the three different positions standing,prone and kneeling. The magic is in the details,he knows. I had a very laid-back attitude shooting air-rifle because it was just one event train for four hours,pack up,and rest. Now with the other two,I am on my toes always, he says.

There are those Narang,first among them who firmly believe that the Beijing bust was responsible,and somewhat necessary,for the drive to notch up those perfect scores. The 600 in Bangkok was important to know that I was capable of getting it,and the 400s because of the competition format and the distractions since the Bundesliga is a noisy stage. Beijing definitely got the fire burning brighter. But I have a long way to go, he says.
The baby,Deshpande says,is growing up fast. It struck me when I met him after Beijing just how much hes matured from the Beijing experience. He was always the kid who would get after something if he wanted it. But now you feel hes going about planning for the minutest details, she says.

FOOD FIGHT
Blessed with a sturdy,stable body structure,Narang though,continues to wage a war with food,and his battles against bingeing are quite well-known. National coach Sunny Thomas has tales to narrate about Narang and the food on his plate,and there are as many stories about his dieting and vegetarian-only months.
At a recent camp in Pune,Narang lost seven kg. He found that his jacket was two sizes larger when shooting in Korea and China,where he continued to skip breakfast to get into shape for his three events.
Hes remarkably capable of losing and gaining weight. Over the years,Ive realised that he has great will power to stay away from ice-creams and milk shakes. Its one of the smaller things,but just shows how determined he is, Thomas says.

The man himself sheepishly offers: Lets just say that Im a foodie and sometimes it gets me into trouble.

What hasnt changed is Narangs lightning speed on the range. Thats my style. I like shooting fast and in rhythm, Narang says. He doesnt intend to rush through the coming years though the Commonwealth and Asian Games,World Championships and World Cups will be tackled a day at a time.
Beijing might well get exorcised three years from now,but Narang says that the London bridge will be crossed only when it comes.

Abhinav Bindra has seen Gagan Narang from the parallel lane,and Hungarian coach Laszlo Szucsak has helped shape his career. The two talk about the record-breaking shooter
On his day,Gagan can beat the best in the world

He went through a painful period after stumbling at the Athens Olympics,but Abhinav Bindra returned to shoot his commanding best in Beijing when winning the historic gold medal. In another parallel lane,Gagan Narang watched his own medal dreams crumble,as he failed to qualify for the finals. Bindra talks about his compatriot,and cyclical destinies from one Olympics to the next that are part of every athletes career:
I first saw him in 2003,and hes come up and progressed very quickly over the last few years. Hes been shooting really well,and after his two Olympics in Athens and Beijing,I think hes a very bright hope for London.
Hes mentally a very strong shooter and can fight till the end. He is technically very good as well. And specially on his day,he can beat the best in the world.
Hes shot quite a few big scores including the perfect scores and it will definitely add to his confidence. But more importantly,it shows that he is carrying forward the momentum after the Olympics. This is not a very important year since there are no Olympic quotas up for grabs,and hence the season is not hugely relevant. But Gagans done well,and he will definitely plan the next three years with tactical training.
Disappointments such as Beijing for him are a part of every athletes life,but it will only make Gagan stronger and motivate him to do better. There are two ways of looking at taking up three events. If you are doing just one event,it means only one opportunity,and the pressure is concentrated on that one competition. But on the flip side,three events take a lot more hard work and adjusting to do,and Gagans managing his time well planning for all three.
As a fellow shooter and team mate,I find Gagan to be a cool customer,and he has the personality to be a good shooter. Im sure hell bring us glory in the coming years.

The Beijing disappointment motivated him to be more organised
When Gagan won the Afro-Asian Games gold,I was working in Japan. His victory was a surprise because he was an unknown in the international field. That gold was important as it made him confident of bigger goals. Before the Melbourne CWG where he got four golds people thought he needed to concentrate on just one event,but he proved to himself and to everybody that shooting talent is universal and he can excel at more than one event at the same time.
He was obviously disappointed after Beijing. He was in great form (just weeks before he scored above the world record),but lost the chance to be in a final on a single silly shot. His performance in 3-position was not bad,but he wasnt ready for the challenge. His Olympics were not as bad as many people think,though. He improved his world ranking in both air rifle and 3-position.
But after Beijing,I had the same feeling as Gagan: happy with Indias first-ever shooting Olympic gold,and unhappy with Gagans lost chance. In Beijing,after initial troubles,he shot 35 straight tens and after he finished with a 100 even after a mistake. For some time,it looked like hed go into the final,but the countback brought a different decision. We thought together,almost immediately,about the next chance. There must always be a next target.

The disappointment motivated him to get more organised in his time and training. He had a point to prove and he did it by winning the World Cup final with a perfect score and a double world record.
There are many small details to learn in shooting. Gagan should polish his technique,and be more consistent. He should be one of the strongest medal contenders in London in all events.
On the lighter side,when I was in India,both of us were fighting weight problems. Many times we decided to have a contest on who can lose more weight in a certain period. We weighed ourselves everyday. Sometimes he was better,sometimes me. But most of these contests finished with a great ice-cream party!