Not many Indian shooters enjoyed fandom the way Jaspal Rana did. That's the kind of impact the pistol shooter had after breaking on to the international stage as a talented teenager in the mid-1990s. Rana became the face of Indian shooting after his sensational showing at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games and Hiroshima Asian Games.
His exploits at the two competitions while a Delhi college student gave Indian shooting a new identity, brought a lot more fans along and took the sport out of the select ranges to common people.
Jaspal recently passed away aged 49, leaving the shooting fraternity stunned. It came at a time when he was immensely contributing to Indian shooting as a coach. He had a key role in Manu Bhaker bouncing back from a disastrous 2021 Tokyo Olympics to land two medals at the 2024 Paris Games.
Deep Dive
How did Jaspal Rana impact Indian shooting as a sport?
Why was Jaspal Rana considered a star among Indian shooters?
What role did Jaspal Rana play in the development of younger shooters?
Indian shooters are now expected to fire big at the Asian Games but there was a time when winning a medal in the continental competition was a big deal for the country. That changed in the early 2000s as India established themselves as one of the youngest shooting contingents in the world. Rana was the face of that growth before Abhinav Bindra came along.
Having had a breakout CWG in Canada—he won four medals, including gold in centre fire pistol, an event that would define his shooting career—Rana won the 25m centre fire pistol gold in the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games two months later, and combined with serial CWG champion Ashok Pandit and Surinder Marwah to win team bronze.
{{/usCountry}}Having had a breakout CWG in Canada—he won four medals, including gold in centre fire pistol, an event that would define his shooting career—Rana won the 25m centre fire pistol gold in the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games two months later, and combined with serial CWG champion Ashok Pandit and Surinder Marwah to win team bronze.
{{/usCountry}}In Japan, those were the only two shooting medals in India's kitty. In Victoria, Rana’s exploits as an 18-year-old had brought him into national notice. In a sport tough to follow, Rana had added an image of youthful colour.
In his debut Commonwealth Games, he won four medals. Gold in the 25m centre fire pistol and centre fire pistol pairs besides silver in the individual 10m air pistol and the bronze in pairs.
He had already given notice of his talent at the world junior championships in Milan, 1994, becoming a world junior champion with a record score in 25m standard pistol, and shot fearlessly in the two multi-disciplinary events. An Indian shooter caring little for the stage and reputation as he shot down medal after medal was rare and Jaspal soon became the star India was looking for. His teenage face flashed all across the media and he was received at the airport with a lot of fanfare.
"He became the face of Indian shooting when he was quite young," said former international rifle shooter Deepali Deshpande. "People would recognise him on the streets and they would come to watch him shoot at the Karni Singh Range," added Deepali, who was his senior by a few years and in the same team in several of India's successful campaigns.
It was the time when Indian shooting had started to break free and results were coming even in rifle section and Rana, mentored by Hungarian coach Tibor Gonczol, stood tall with his ability to perform at the international stage. Though both his events were non-Olympic disciplines, Rana competed with passion. Rana did go to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, competing in men's 10m air pistol and 50m free pistol events.
It was not only his shooting but temperament that kept him in the news. There was always something happening around Rana, or he would make it happen. Be it his run-ins with administrators or the association, he would not mince words, and that often landed him in trouble.
That never impacted his performance. From 1994 to 2006, he won 15 medals spread across four editions of the Commonwealth Games, including nine gold. And just when everyone was quick to write him off, Jaspal proved them wrong with a stunning comeback in the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
It turned out to be his most successful Asian Games, winning four medals, three of which were gold medals. There was plenty of drama at Qatar’s Lusail shooting range. India had returned without a gold day after day, until Rana step up. The victory, and proving himself, saw an emotional outpouring as he wept on the shoulder of then national coach, the late Prof Sunny Thomas, who was a mentor to him for years in the national team set-up.
Rana took to coaching with the same passion, and as junior chief coach, alongside Deepali Deshpande, groomed the young generation that included Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker.