By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 29 Jul: Ace Pistol Shooter Jaspal Rana, who had won Gold medals in the 1994 Asian Games and in Commonwealth Games in 1998 in Central Fire Pistol Event, runs a shooting academy and also a technology college in Dehradun in his name. During his playing days, Olympics did not have the pistol shooting competition. Ace pistol shooter Manu Bhaker, who has won a bronze medal at the ongoing Olympics in Paris in the 10 metre Air Pistol Event, has Jaspal Rana as her chief coach in pistol shooting. This is the second time she hired Rana as her coach, allegedly after she was denied a personal coach for herself by the Haryana Government. She hails from Haryana and it is the second Olympic Games for her. In Tokyo, she had missed out on a medal when she had stood fourth. She was just 19 years of age then and after missing out on a medal had allegedly blamed her coach Jaspal Rana. However, later well before the games, she buried the hatchet with Rana who also is learnt to have forgiven her and accepted to become her coach once again. Both Rana and Bhaker are still in Paris where she is competing in team events.
According to Narayan Singh Rana, a shooter and former Commando, and father of Jaspal Rana, Bhaker had attended two training camps in Dehradun with her coach Jaspal and had also continuously trained at Jaspal Rana Shooting Academy in Paundha (Dehradun) for over one and half months just before the Olympic Games which not only honed her shooting skills a lot but also gave her confidence. She is competing in 10 metre and 25 metre Air Pistol event in individual capacity as well in the team event in Paris.
Rana has hailed Manu Bhaker’s confidence and focus as well her ability to hold her nerves against the mounting pressure. Rana also called her brave while speaking to the Indian media persons covering the Paris Olympics. At the same time, Manu too has credited Rana for her success and the confidence level that she managed through the competition at Paris.
According to Narayan Singh Rana, who is also President of the Uttarakhand Rifle Association, even during the training camps held in Dehradun before the games, Manu Bhaker had learnt to be fully focussed and disciplined and spent little time on mobile phone or other activities and instead concentrated on practice. She also learnt to repair her pistol in case of any problem during the competition. It may be recalled that, in Tokyo, her performance had suffered because of some technical snag in her pistol.
Incidentally, another shooter with a deep connection and roots in Dehradun, Abhinav Bindra had won a Gold Medal at the Air Rifle event in Beijing Olympics. Bindra had his schooling in Dehradun including his early education at Riverdale Junior School. Jaspal Rana Shooting Academy has been churning out good shooters over the past few years and has produced several national and international level shooters.
Speaking to Garhwal Post, Coach Jaspal Rana’s father
Narayan Singh Rana shared that Manu Bhaker had hired
Jaspal as her coach once again one year before and had
been regularly visiting his shooting range and academy to
participate in the competitions. She also attended two training
camps of 15 days each in Dehradun under Jaspal Rana held
specially to train her and prepare her for the Paris Olympics.
Narayan Singh Rana also recalled that in Tokyo Olympic her
official coach could not help her to repair her pistol in time
during the event and for this she became nervous and lost
the chance to win a medal there. Now she has been trained
to take care of her pistol by Rana and this boosted her
confidence. Rana admitted that the facilities at their academy
in Dehradun may not be of Olympic standards but they are
still good enough to produce world class shooters.
Rana also shared that everyone at the Academy is
celebrating the medal of Manu Bhaker and that
celebrations are underway at the Academy at present.
Commenting on the medal of shooter Manu Bhaker,
Interim President of Olympic Council of Asia, Raja Randhir
Singh described Manu as a brilliant shooter and wished
her luck for her upcoming events in Paris.
