There was one thing missing from Jaspal Rana’s otherwise impressive CV during his days as an accomplished shooter... The 25m centre fire and 25m standard pistol, the categories in which Rana competed, were never included by the International Shooting Sport Federation in the Olympic Games.
After Sunday though his CV as a coach will have the mention that he groomed and coached an Olympic medal winner. At the Chateauroux shooting centre, his student, Manu Bhaker, brought home a bronze giving India its first medal of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Both on Saturday and Sunday — qualification and the final of the 10m air pistol — Manu knew exactly where her personal coach was sitting in the stands and after every attempt, the coach-disciple duo would have eye contact.
After the last shot on Sunday which sealed the medal, Rana did not wait in the stands to see Manu celebrating. “There would have been too much attention on me,” the 48-year-old said as a matter of fact. “It’s her medal, not mine,” he said.
Jaspal and Manu share a relationship which at one point in time hit rock bottom. That was during the Tokyo Games when the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) officials and Manu herself blamed Rana for her flop show.
Rana, winner of four gold medals in the Asian Games (one in 1994 Hiroshima and three at the Doha Asian Games), is known as someone who always speaks from the heart. He hit back at the shooting brass and Manu at that time.
But last year, they decided to leave aside their egos and on Sunday Manu, with a score of 221.7, was on the podium along with the South Korean duo of Kim Yeji (silver medal, 243.3 points) Jin Ye Oh (gold with a Games record of 243 points).
After last year’s patch-up, Rana brought innovative ways to keep Manu motivated. One such was setting targets to push his ward to the limits. So, Manu would have to shell out foreign currency for every point lost during high-intensity training sessions.
“Once she had to give 40 Euros to a dancing troupe because she lost that many points. The troupe was pretty amused,” Rana remembered.
The fine would become an incentive if she had reached the target. “And I never had to do away with many euros,” Manu pointed out.
The nightmares of Tokyo banished — Manu admitted it took a lot of time for her to get out of the debacle — Rana, however, said all ghosts are good. “Yes, they are,” he insisted. “It keeps you grounded,” Rana said.
Rana said he has not done anything out of the world in the last one year. “No. I have not. You do not teach her how to shoot at this level. It’s just a tweaking here and there.”
Their ‘guru-shishya’ relationship takes a lot of motivation from the Gita.
“Even today I told her about Abhimanyu who knew how to barge into the Kauravas chakravyhua but did not learn the way out. I told her to figure it out herself and get going. Just that.”
Manu’s medal in shooting is the first after Gagan Narang had won an air rifle men’s bronze at the London Olympics in 2012. From the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and Tokyo Games, the shooters had returned empty-handed. “We need proper planning. If we aspire to host the 2036 Olympic Games, India need to win medals across disciplines,” Rana said.
Rana always complained that the NRAI never treated him well and on Sunday too he did not lose the opportunity to take a dig at the officials.
“Last time, they played foul and dropped me from the contingent. They said Manu needs a psychologist when she herself said that her personal coach (Rana) was best for the job. Why do you need a degree? I have 35 years of experience in shooting and, for the record, I do not have any certificate” the former shooter said.
Credit should also be given to the NRAI who dealt Rana’s fiery temperament this time.
“I worked hard, but he (Rana) worked harder and this bronze is the result,” Manu said.
That’s the story of a medal-winning reunion.
