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Manu Bhaker won bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol final on Sunday as well as in the mixed team category of the same event with Sarabjot Singh while Swapnil Kusale would win bronze in the men’s 50m rifle three positions final. read more
 "Gagan Narang hails belief of Indian shooting team after flurry of medals in Paris Olympics")
Indian shooting icon in an exclusive interaction with Firstpost Sports Editor Rupha Ramani. Image credit: Screengrab/First Sports
In an exclusive chat on First Sports, Indian shooting icon Gagan Narang hailed Manu Bhaker and the rest of the Indian shooting team in the Paris Olympics for their belief that has led to a flurry of medals this week.
Paris Olympics: News, schedule, medals tally and more
Bhaker alone accounted for two of those medals — winning bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol final on Sunday as well as in the mixed team category of the same event with Sarabjot Singh on Tuesday.
Later on Thursday, Swapnil Kusale would win bronze in the men’s 50m rifle three positions final, taking India’s medal haul to three — all of them delivered by the shooting team.
“Now Indian shooters have started believing in themselves. Earlier when we would go, we would say we’re just looking to participate in the Olympic Games. When we went, we changed the mindset to say we can win medals," Narang, who is India’s chef de mission in the Paris Olympics, told Firstpost’s Rupha Ramani on Thursday.
India at Paris 2024, Day 6 | Kusale wins bronze but key medal contenders including Sindhu bow out
“These athletes are going in today to not just win any medal, they’re going in to win the gold medal. That’s the change that these people have, that aim for the gold, you might just stop at bronze.
“I’m hoping that the colour of the medal will change in the next two days. We won three bronze, I’m hoping we will be able to win a bronze,” Narang, who won bronze in the 10m air rifle event in the 2012 London Olympics, added.
Manu’s medal on Sunday not only helped her become the first Indian woman to win a shooting medal at the Olympics, it also ended a 12-year drought for the country, whose shooting teams had drawn a blank in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Narang felt that India had been going through a generational shift after landing two shooting medals in London, and that the current batch had prepared calmly in the right direction the approach of which has led to a sudden rain of medals.
“As we all know, medals in shooting have ended a 12-year drought, and I had mentioned earlier that when you see a generational shift in a sport, it takes some time to get back.
“These 12 years of wait, I think the India shooting team has been preparing very calmy in the right direction and waiting to go all guns blazing in Paris. It started with Manu’s medal, and then another medal from Manu, and now finally a medal from the rifle coming in.
Watch the full interview here:
#FirstSports: In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, India's chef de mission for Paris Olympics, @gaGunNarang hailed Swapnil Kusale's bronze medal. Kusale won India's third medal at the Paris Olympics in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions.
From Manu Bhaker's double bronze to… pic.twitter.com/DBdQp1af4s
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English (US) ·