Gagan Narang

Gagan Narang (born 6 May 1983) is an Indian sport shooter, supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He won the bronze medal in the Men's 10 m Air Rifle Event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with a final score of 701.1 on 30 July 2012. He was also a member of prestigious Padma award committee 2023.

Early life and background Gagan was born to Bhimsen Narang and his wife Amarjit, in a Punjabi Hindu Arora family in Chennai on 6 May 1983. His father is a retired chief manager of the Air India. Gagan's family hail from the Simla Gujran village of Haryana's Panipat district. However, his father's job assignments made them to shift from Panipat to Hyderabad, where he was brought up. He did his schooling from the Gitanjali Senior School. He attained his Bachelor of Computer Application degree from the Hyderabad's Osmania University. He took to shooting when his father presented him an air pistol in 1997. He went about perfecting his shooting skills at the backyard of his home in Begumpet. He won the Air Rifle Gold medal at the World Cup 2006 and followed it up with win in the event in April 2010.

In a pre-Olympic event in Hannover, Germany, Gagan shot an Air Rifle score higher than the world record, 704.3 as opposed to 703.1 set by Thomas Farnik of Austria in the World Cup 2006. Gagan Narang won 4 Gold medals at 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Narang qualified for the 2008 ISSF World Cup Final after he won a gold in the World Cup in China earlier in 2008. Gagan shot a perfect 600 in the qualification round. He scored 103.5 in the final round making total score of 703.5 to gain the universe record. On 4 November 2008, he broke Austria's Thomas Farnik's record, set in the 2006 World Cup final in Granada, Spain. Gagan said his win was special because Barack Obama, who won the United States' Presidential election on same day, was a source of inspiration.

Narang added 4 Gold medals to the Indian tally at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. In the Men's 10 m Air Rifle singles event, he shot a perfect 600 which was a new record. Gagan also clinched a silver medal in his pet event at the Asian Games 2010. He also combined with Abhinav Bindra and Sanjeev Rajput to win the country another silver, in the team event behind champions, China. He won both of his silvers on the opening day of Asian Games.

Narang won the bronze medal

Narang won 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal in 50-metre rifle prone and 50-metre rifle 3 position respectively at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

ISSF World Medal Tally No. Event Championship Year Place Medal 1 10m air rifle ISSF World Shooting Championships 2010 Munich 3 50m rifle 3 Positions ISSF World Cup 2009 Changwon 4 10m air rifle ISSF World Cup 2009 Changwon 5 10m air rifle ISSF World Cup Final 2008 Bangkok 6 10m air rifle ISSF World Cup 2008 Beijing 7 10m air rifle ISSF World Cup 2006 Guangzhou

World record Current world records held in 10 m Air Rifle Men

Controversy In August 2010, Narang had publicly expressed his displeasure after being ignored for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award thrice and he threatened to skip the 2010 Commonwealth Games due to lack of motivation. However, intense pressure from his family and fans, he later decided to participate.

Summer Olympics Year Event Rank 2004 Athens 10 m air rifle 12 2008 Beijing 10 m air rifle 9 50 m rifle Prone 35 50 m rifle three positions 13 2012 London 10 m air rifle 50 m rifle prone 18 50 m rifle three positions 20 2016 Rio 10 m air rifle 23 50 m rifle prone 13 50 m rifle three positions 33

Awards & Recognitions In recognition with his achievements, Narang was conferred with the Padma Shree Award in 2011. Gagan Narang was selected for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for 2010. This is the highest sports award in the country. He was conferred the award by then president Pratibha Patil on 29 August 2011. Also Gagan Narang was invited by the organisers of the Indian Grand Prix to wave the chequered flag in the 2012 Indian Grand Prix.

Awards for 2012 Olympics Bronze medal cash prize by State Government of Haryana. cash prize by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh. cash prize by the State Government of Rajasthan. cash prize by Steel Ministry of India. 2 kg of gold by Sahara India Pariwar.