India's Asian Games Legends: Jaspal Rana

Before Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar, came Jaspal Rana. The 25m pistol shooter has a fantastic record at the Asian Games, winning a gold and a bronze in 1994, a silver and a bronze in 1998 and three golds and a silver in 2006. Rana also won a shooting world cup gold in 1994. Squeezed between all this is a gold and a bronze at Asian Shooting Championships. [caption id=“attachment_1715675” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] He also holds the world record with 590 points in 25m center fire pistol. AFP[/caption] He also holds the world record with 590 points in 25m center fire pistol. An interview in The Indian Express says: (Rana was) only eight years old when his father N.S. Rana put a pistol in his hand, he says: “I liked the weapon, the sound, the range.” But with centrefire wadcutter bullets priced at Rs.15 (Rs.50 in black) and hundreds of rounds to be fired, he began by firing blanks. Rana’s father constantly criticised the government for a lack of support for his son — and probably Jaspal’s success without great help from the authorities was in fact an impetus for them to look at shooting as a real medal-fetcher for India.