LONDON: Sport, they say, is a great leveller, and the adage that is probably as old as the woods was exemplified by Gagan Narang’s bronze medal success and Abhinav Bindra’s failure at the Olympic Games on Monday.
Bindra became the apple of everyone’s eye by clinching a historic gold medal – the first by an Indian shooter in the Olympics – in the Beijing 2008.
That was four summers ago, but cut to 2012, and it is Narang’s moment of glory.
Narang may have fallen short of replicating what Bindra achieved in the China, but for a success-starved nation like India, a bronze medal in the planet’s biggest sporting spectacle holds a lot of significance.
For the record, Narang’s medal-winning effort was India’s first in the ongoing Games.
Narang came third behind world number one Niccolo Campriani of Italy (silver) and unheralded Romanian Alin George Moldoveanu, who clinched the gold.
“It is like a huge stone is off my chest. I had not managed to qualify for the finals in the last two Olympics and that was really painful, but now I am happy to have finally won an Olympic medal,” Narang told reporters here.
Asked whether the celebrations back home would serve as a distraction for him in the two other events, Narang said: “I don’t know what is happening back home. I am trying to stay focused for my two other events.
Narang is, however, not happy with his score.
“I am not really happy. My coach is also not happy with the score. Scoring 600 is always challenging, but I made a few technical mistakes. But then an Olympic medal is an Olympic medal,” he said.
His win drew praise from all around India, with Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and several politicians, including the Prime Minister, across the spectrum joining in a chorus of cheers for the shooter.
His father, back home in Hyderabad, promised even more from Narang in the two 50m rifle events to be held on August 3 and 6 and said he was proud of his son.
That he has finally realised his dream, is indeed the result of years of hard work, determination and some meticulous training, charted out by rifle coach Stanislav Lapidus.
But more than his countless exploits at the international stage, it was the failure at Beijing that drove Narang to take a serious shot at a medal in the British capital, where there was no dearth of Indian supporters.
The loud applause after every perfect shot by Narang was indication that the feel inside the 10m indoor range at the Royal Artillery Barracks was pre-dominantly Indian.
Bindra’s disappointment
Bindra, on the other hand, after having tasted success in Beijing, took a sabbatical before returning to the sport to have another go in London.
Having won the biggest prize in sport, there was, at some point of time, talk that Bindra had lost the motivation to continue and that he was contemplating retirement.
The reserved marksman, however, brushed aside such thoughts by earning an Olympic ticket last year, and followed that up with a medal in a competitive international tournament.
He gave a dismal display in the qualifying rounds, shooting 594 out of 600, to finish a shocking 16th out of 47 competitors and lost the golden chance of becoming the world’s first shooter to win two successive gold medals at the mega event.
“This was not my day. I started slowly and there was a lot of pressure. It was a very highly competitive field, my performance went up and down,” Bindra said after the qualifying round. He also brushed aside any suggestion that he would now retire. (PTI)