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Truly multicultural, Narang was born to a Punjabi family in Chennai, moving to Hyderabad where he was raised.
The first time he laid his hands on a gun was when he was a six year old shooting balloons at the Marina Beach carnival in Chennai. Who knew that young boy would go on to cement his love for shooting and pursue his passion to become an Olympic gold medal-winning shooter?
Narang qualified for the Rio Olympics 2016 by winning a bronze medal at the ISSF 50m prone rifle event in Fort Benning this May. His journey to Rio was not easy as he suffered an injury in the beginning of the season, as a reason of which he saw a nosedive in form.
The shooter was ousted from the 10m air rifle Indian contingent for the first three world cups by the National Rifle Association of India.
Undeterred, Narang came back with a bang to win the coveted Olympic spot for India. Now, his plan is to take advantage of the year he has in his hands and to keep up the good work.
“The qualification came in good time. It gave me good one year to plan and prepare. Right now I am following the roadmap that is prepared by my coach. The earlier the qualification, greater the time to prepare. So in that sense I am lucky. But now I have to shoot well at the NRAI conducted selection trials to retain my place in the Olympics team”, he told Sportskeeda in an interview.
Narang has always performed at the his best for India in the Commonwealth Games over the years. In the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, he won 4 Gold medals- 2 in the 10m Air Rifle event and 2 in 50m 3 Position event.
In the 2010 Commonwealth Games which were held in Delhi, Narang won four more gold medals. He took top prize in the 10m air rifle individual and pair events, and in 50m rifle 3 positions, both individual and pair events again. He failed to recapture the form of previous events – such as Glasgow 2014, but he still won two medals, a silver and a bronze, which no other Indian athlete has managed to do.
The shooter, however, failed to qualify for the finals of Olympic games in Beijing, for the second time in row, after his horror show in Athens four years back. Though, he redeemed himself when he clinched the bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle event in London Summer Games 2012.
His performances in Asian Games have also been decent enough. He has won five medals for India, 2 silver and 3 bronze, in the Asian Games over the years.
The Olympic medalist is also the World Record holder in 10m air rifle event, with a perfect score of 600. He is the only player to have achieved the feat twice. Gagan was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2011.
Hopefully Narang will now go on to win more medals for India, especially in the Rio Olympics, touted to be his last Olympic Games.
For a list of other athletes who have qualified, click here.
