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Jaspal Rana disappoints in his pet event
Sometimes, silence can be more deafening than the piercing sound of a bullet as ace pistol shooter Jaspal Rana found on Monday.
Sometimes, silence can be more deafening than the piercing sound of a bullet as ace pistol shooter Jaspal Rana found at the Hyderabad University Ranges here on Monday. One rank bad shot from the top Indian marksman was enough to silence the crowd, who had come to see the National champion clinch the second gold for the hosts.
The Hiroshima Asian Games gold-medallist and Bangkok Asian Games silver-medallist, suffered the most humiliating defeat on home soil, when he finished sixth in the the centre fire pistol.
He managed to mumble, “I wasn’t able to find my rhythm today”, and quickly jumped over the iron grill to disappear. It was a forgettable day for the Delhi shooter who could manage only 575 out of 600 and suffered the ignominy of finishing behind two inconsequential Egyptian shooters.
After Gagan Narang’s gold-clinching performance in the 10-m rifle event, the Indians were in for a tough time as the ‘golden hue’ evaded them in all the five events.
Trap marksman Manavjit Singh built up a ‘feverish’ pitch, but ended up playing second fiddle to Busan Asian Games gold-medallist Chinese Li Hui in the tie shoot. “I have been running high fever for the last three days ..this morning itself I had a couple of paracetamol tablets,” said the tall shooter. The bronze in the event went to Anwar Sultan.
However, the most galling or shall we say glaring anomaly was the disappointment of Jaspal. His father, NS Rana, too was quite scathing in his criticism of Jaspal.
“I have been requesting the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to organise camps in places like Bangalore and Hyderabad, so that home complacency does not creep in .... how can you perform if you sleep at three,” said the elder Rana.
Results: Centre-fire — 1. Mguyen Manah Tuong (Vie) 584; 2. Tack Park Byung (Kor) 583; 3. Lee Sang Hak (Kor) 580; 6. Jaspal Rana (Ind) 575). Trap: 1. Li Hui (Chi) 141 (+7); 2. Manavjit Singh (Ind) 141 (+6), 3. Anwer Sultan (Ind) 141 (+4); 4. Zorawar Singh 138.
