Shooter Narang’s bronze opens India medal account

As if the three events where he takes aim kneeling,lying down and standing weren’t enough,Gagan Narang thought up another way to check his precision. On the eve of his 10 m air rifle event,he instructed mental trainer Vaibhav Agashe to sit across him with mouth wide open as he flung dry fruits into his open and increasingly aching cavern.

On Monday,the targets were quite conservative — a bull’s-eye 10 metres away,which he struck 26 times before he made his first error and shot a 9,on way to winning a well-deserved bronze medal. Narang’s podium opened India’s account at London after two disappointing days. For the shooter,the medal was the satisfying end to four years of teaching himself to forget the pain of missing out on the final at Beijing.

For compatriot Abhinav Bindra though,there was heartbreak — the Beijing gold medalist crashed out in the qualification round. He smiled watching Narang finish on the podium,but the tears will likely come later.

“Let’s forget about Beijing now. I’m really happy,though coach is not satisfied,” said the 28-year-old bronze medallist.

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