Gagan Narang on Indian shooters missing out in Tokyo Olympics: Hope athletes don’t get too punished

Olympic bronze-medallist shooter, Gagan Narang is disappointed that India hasn’t been able to score a win in shooting in the ongoing Olympics, but he’s also thinking about what the athletes must be going through with so much attention and flak coming their way.

“Why we’re not winning any medals is something that I’m trying to wrap my head around. There could be multiple factors. A lot has been talked about the athletes, but we must understand that they’re very young, and did whatever needed to be done,” Narang tells us, adding, “The coaches were sent with them to Croatia. The whole system was behind. From the administrative part, we were right on track.”

Asked about the ongoing tussle around coach and player relationship, he says, “I’m not aware of the nitty-gritty of what’s exactly going on. But I know these athletes have been training with a certain set of coaches. And when they went to the Olympics, these set of coaches didn’t go with them. I’m not sure if they (players) were comfortable with that situation.”

When it comes to performance, Narang, 48, agrees it was quite disappointing. “I don’t know the reason behind it, but probably they were away from home for very long. They kind of went with their cup half empty to the Olympic Games. And pressure. When I speak to them, some of them, they all thought that they gave their best.”

However, the ace marksman, whose last Olympic appearance was in Rio five years ago, doesn’t appreciate the criticism coming their way.

“People who don’t even read sports are reading and commenting on them, which I feel isn’t right because nobody contributed (to their journey). Where were these people when the athletes wanted support? Where was everyone when the athletes were winning world cup medals? People didn’t even congratulate them. But there’s so much hue and cry when they’ve lost today. It’s either winning or complete death,” rues Narang.

India’s leading pistol shooters, Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary as well as rifle stars, Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar, failed to make a mark in any of the events of the Tokyo games, aired on Sony Sports.

Even the athletes are grappling with a turmoil of emotions, shares the 2012 London Olympics medal-winning shooter.

“When I spoke to Valarivan, she told me ‘Sir, I did my best. It just wasn’t happening’. So, each one of them will tell you the same thing,” he continues, “They all are numb in their head right now. They’re completely drained out, and probably reading what people are talking about them. They’ve never faced this kind of criticism. When they won the world cup medals, the media shower was also not there. Nobody bothered when they won a world cup. This is something very new for them.”

While Narang thinks the way forward is introspection, he hopes the athletes don’t face severe punishment.

“There’ll be a post mortem. I hope that the athletes don’t get too punished for their performance because their job is to perform and they are the best that we have. We have to trust them to deliver. Without putting them into mental stress, we have to introspect and figure out what went wrong, and then improve upon for the next for the years to come,” says Narang.

Still, he isn’t giving up all the hopes. “I’m not writing anybody off. We still have a lot of shooting events, and anyone can be a dark horse. We hope we get more medals than Rio,” he signs off.

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