Rana graceful after `Most Valuable Player` goof-up

Doha, Dec 15: Jaspal Rana today made light of the disappointment of missing out on `most valuable player` award

at the Asian games, saying mere nomination for the coveted award was an honour for him. "I`m quite happy because I was in the final list of most valuable player. But things were not in my hand," Rana, who clinched three gold medals, said.

"It is not like I have a gun in my hand and I know when I have to pull the trigger. Here I have nothing in my hand.

"At least being in the final list is an honour that I got, I am quite happy with that," said the shooter who had come back to Doha all the way from India in anticipation of receiving the award.

The National Rifle Association of India had stated in India soon after the end of shooting competitions that Rana had bagged the MVP award.

But Korean swimmer Tae Hwan Park was officially announced winner of the award today.

NRAI explained the goof-up by saying they were wrongly informed by the Indian Olympic Association.

"IOA is very sorry that they misinterpreted the information given to them in Doha and passed on to us with instructions to give it to the media," NRAI`s general secretary Baljit Singh Sethi said.

The NRAI had also told Rana, who won three gold medals and a silver, that he had won the award and asked him to book a flight for Doha since the pistol king had come back at the completion of the shooting competitions in Qatar.

Other than Rana, the other nominees were Xiang Liu (110 m hurdle), Jiaying Pang (swimming) and Wei Yang (gymnastics), all hailing from China.

Bureau Report