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Venue construction delay eroding home advantage for CWG: Gagan

Indian marksmen may not get any home advantage during the 2010 Commonwealth Games as delay in the completion of venues will hardly leave them with the time to get acclimatised to the conditions, feels ace shooter Gagan Narang.

New Delhi: Indian marksmen may not get any home advantage during the 2010 Commonwealth Games as delay in
the completion of venues will hardly leave them with the time to get acclimatised to the conditions, feels ace shooter Gagan Narang. Narang has won one gold and two silver medals at the ongoing Sajjan Singh Sethi memorial masters championship in Indore. He participated in the event after the Pune training camp was called off due to the Swine Flu threat. On being asked if the cancellation of the camp will affect their preparations for the Games, the world record holder in 10m air rifle event said the non-completion of the venue is the biggest roadblock. "At this time, the renovation of the Karni Singh Shooting range in Delhi is a huge setback to our preparation because we will not be able to practice there unless work is complete.” "If we will not be familiar with the conditions then the home advantage during the World Cup and Commonwealth Games will count for nothing," Narang told reporters. The ISSF World cup will be held in March next year and CWG 2010 are scheduled for October. However, Narang insisted that his own preparations are unaffected by the delay. "Definitely, it`s a setback but my training is not affected because there is a range in Hyderabad for practice. The team will go back to Pune for the camp and it is likely to stay there till the Delhi range gets ready," he said. Narang had become the first Indian to win two medals in a World Cup when he grabbed gold in 50m rifle-three and a bronze in 10m air rifle in South Korea. Asked about his personal coach, Narang said," My sponsors Olympic Gold Quest and government helped me get training under some foreign coaches. In future also, I want to work with them." "But it is very costly to engage foreign coaches and their help should be sought only during the training period. Although their help during the tournament has its own advantages." Talking about the lack of ammunition for practice he said, "It has always been a problem because there is cap on the import of ammunition. We get ammunition regularly during the camp but when camps are cancelled or not organised. we have to rely on our own reserves." Bureau Report