Sport

Awesome Narang wins gold

NEW DELHI: Gagan Narang asserted his undisputed class by equalling one World record and setting another in capturing the men’s 10m air rifle gold in the shooting World Cup Finals in Bangkok on Wednesday.

The shooter from Hyderabad shot a perfect 600 out of 600 in the preliminary phase to equal the World record jointly held by Tavarit Majchacheep of Thailand and Denis Sokolov of Russia.

Narang then outclassed a strong field that had everyone except the reigning World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, who had opted to rest, to win the gold with a World record total of 703.5.

“It is an absolutely fantastic performance. Gagan has showed a lot of character after a disappointing Olympic Games. Great show,” Bindra, the Beijing Olympics gold medallist, said.

Narang, who had missed the Olympic final on the count-back with a 595, pushed the former World champion Matthew Emmons of the U.S., who had won the 50m rifle 3-position gold on Tuesday, to the silver medal with a narrow one-point margin.

The Beijing Olympic silver and bronze medallists Zhu Qinan (702.3) of China and Henri Hakkinen (701.9) of Finland had to settle for the third and fourth places respectively though they were just one point behind Narang before the final.

“It was great for me to get the gold with two World records. It can’t get any better than this. After the first series, I wanted to get 600. I had done it before and wanted to make it official today.

“I am glad that it worked. I knew that I had to be on my toes in the final as one-point lead was not big. I had a different strategy for the final and it also worked. I was just unstoppable today,” Narang said over phone.

Narang was quick in stressing the key role played by mind trainer Vaibhav Agashe and sponsors Olympic Gold Quest and Air India, apart from expressing gratitude to coaches Sunny Thomas and Laszlo Szucsak.

Narang, a gold medallist in the World Cup in China in 2006, shot a 103.5 in the final, which had only two blemishes in a 9.8 (second shot) and a 9.7 (seventh).

“All my 10 sighter shots were 10s too,” recalled Narang even as he remarked that he had expected a 596 or a 597 before the competition as his form was not that great as he had gauged in the Bundesliga in Germany, before reaching Thailand.

He thus eased past the World record of 703.1 set by Thomas Farnik of Austria in the World Cup final in Granada, Spain, in 2004. Incidentally, Farnik finished eighth among the 10 this day with a 698.0.

“Gagan was brilliant today. He was unlucky in the Olympics as he alone got left out with a 595 while four others made the final with that score.

“He had three nine in his first four shots and a 8.9 in the fifth series in the Olympics. He was just unlucky.

“A lot of people did not understand it then. He has proved all his unfair critics wrong today,” said National coach Prof. Sunny Thomas.

Narang joined two other Indian shooters who have set World records.

Double trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi had equalled two World records, 147 out of 150, and 194 out of 200 on way to the gold medal in the World Cup at Belgrade earlier in the season.

Suma Shirur had equalled the World record of 400 out of 400 in women’s air rifle in the Asian Championship in 2004.

The results: 10m air rifle: 1. Gagan Narang 703.5 FWR (600 EWR); 2. Matthew Emmons (U.S.) 702.5 (598); 3. Zhu Qinan (Chn) 702.3 (599).

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