Rana wins gold without adequate practice

Doha, Dec 08: Triple gold winner in pistol shooting, Jaspal Rana, today admitted that he had entered the Asian games with inadequate practice and his form in the lead-up to the mega event was not something to write home about. "I had just 10 days of practice and I enjoyed the camp for the last ten days," Rana said after winning the individual as well as team gold in the 25m centre fire pistol event at the Lusail range here today.

But he said he did not let his indifferent form at the camp deter him.

"There are people who shot better than me. But I feel happy that I did not give up," the Delhi-based marksman said.

Rana had to overcome high fever, apart from the tough competition, to bring glory to the country and the efforts had left him drained of energy.

"I`m still under medication right now. The doctors are very good, but today I am going in the evening for a check-up because the medicines they gave is only for five hours and five hours is not good enough for me to shoot. So I was feeling very weak," he said.

He also won the team gold in the event, in combination with Vijay Kumar and Samresh Jung, a day after he claimed the individual title in the 25m standard pistol category to break India`s 12-year gold drought in Asian games shooting.

"I am still down with fever, but I am happy that I shot the Asian record. I shot a good score and I am so happy about it," Rana said.

He dedicated his golden feat to his family and countrymen back home who stood by him.

"I want to dedicate winning to my whole family, all the Indians back home and to the media. It`s like a big team. But there are a lot of people who are here and supported me," Rana added.

Bureau Report