Rana fails to hit the target, loses medal for first time at home

Jaspal Rana had never lost on the home soil in his pet event — centre-fire pistol — but today the ace shooter drew a blank in the event at the Afro-Asian Games. The Delhi marksman not only lost the gold for the first time in his career in a competition at home but also failed to win a medal, finishing sixth out of eight competitors here.

The shock could be felt at the shooting range here as Rana, a former Asian Games champion in the centre-fire event at the Hiroshima Games in 1994, had a glorious run at the international competition even last year though he was unlucky to miss a medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. But Rana had won the gold in the Manchester Commonwealth Games held and the Commonwealth Championship in Bisley. The star shooter had been consistently winning medals at international events since making his international debut in the early 90s. He won a silver at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.

Jaspal Rana during a practice session at the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad on Sunday. PTI

Rana was in complete disbelief as the defeat sunk in. He left the venue in a hurry and did not speak to the large contingent of mediapersons. Later, talking to The Indian Express, Rana blamed his poor performance on the lack of practice and the absence of his Hungarian coach Tibor Gonczol. ‘‘I had hardly any practice and even my coach was not there. I started quite well and had a couple of good scores but towards the end, it just didn’t happen,’’said Rana.

He was confident of fighting back at the next international competition in February — the Asian Championship. ‘‘These things do happen in sports though I would have been happy to have finished among the medallists. But I lost today and that’s the reality,’’ Rana said.