TNI Bureau: After two disappointing days, India finally opened the account at the 2012 London Olympics, as Gagan Narang won the bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event. This is the first-ever Olympic medal for Narang too.
Akin George Moldoveanu (Romania) won the gold medal with 702.1 points, while Niccolo Campriani (Italy) won the silver with 701.5 points. Gagan Narang won the bronze medal with 701.1 points.
Gagan fulfilled the dreams of Indians after Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra crashed out of the medal race with a poor performance in the qualifiers. The Haryana Government has announced a cash reward of Rs one crore for Narang. Sahara India has also announced two kilo gold for Narang.
Gagan Narang is an ace Indian shooter, especially in Air rifle shooting. He is the first Indian to qualify for the London Olympics. He had bagged 4 gold medals in 2010 Commonwealth Games. He had shot a perfect 600 which was a new record in the event.
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He along with Abhinav Bindra had bagged a gold medal in the 10 metre air rifle pair event at the Karni Singh range in New Delhi Commonwealth Games. He had added a silver medal to the Indian tally being combined with Bindra and Sanjeev Rajput, winning India’s first silver medal on the opening day of the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010.
The 29-year-old Gagan had first bagged gold in the 2003 Afro Asian games in Hyderabad in Men’s 10m air rifle competition. He had won an air rifle gold medal at the World Cup 2006 and 2008.
Gagan had made the country proud in 2008 by breaking Austria’s Thomas Farnik’s record, set in the 2006 World Cup final in Granada, Spain. He had qualified for the 2008 ISSF World Cup Final after winning a bronze in the World Cup in China earlier in 2008.
The athlete from Chennai had been conferred with the Padma Shree Award in 2010. He was also awarded the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest sports honour in India, for 2010.