Chef de mission Gagan Narang hopeful of good performance
Paris: For the first time in the history of Indian sports, an Olympic medallist is the chef de mission of the contingent in Paris. Gagan Narang, who won a medal in the London Olympics in 2012, has grown in stature. On Thursday, while interacting with the media, Gagan opened up on how his journey has been and how Indian athletes today have no fear.
“I have no hesitation in saying the athletes today from India are strong and robust, physically and mentally. Their mindset is very positive and they want to go for not just medals but gold,” said Gagan while speaking to the media on Thursday.
As one who has mentored shooters, Gagan Narang sees a huge change in the mindset of this generation. After all, he has mentored someone like Elavenil Valarivan, who will be going for a medal at the shooting ranges in Chateauroux, which is 275km from Paris.
Gagan is aware of the potential as he had seen
the shooters at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, last year. Ther was a robust
performance from the Indians at the Asian Games. This time, 21 Indian shooters will represent India in almost every discipline in the shooting competition.
According to Gagan, the mindset of Indian athletes has changed big time. “The confidence level is at an unprecedented level,” he said. This is what encourages Indian athletes to be fearless.
Elaborating on the mindset, Gagan also spoke on how the Indians no longer fear rivals. From athletics to shooting, the Indians are happy to face the best in any arena.
“There is a huge change in the motivation and the level of thinking our athletes have today. We used to feel scared, under-confident because other countries were better. But slowly that’s changed, the mindset (has) changed,” Narang told reporters.
Gagan has been seeing the paradigm shift, now, for a long time. “People started watching sports, playing it, then we had great performances. The confidence is at a new high. Today’s athletes don’t go just to participate, they go to perform,” he added further.
Speaking about coordination and how there is a cohesiveness between the Sports Ministry, Sports Authority of India and the Indian Olympic Associaiton, Gagan was all praise for IOA President PT Usha. “It is a great thing to have Usha Maam as President,” he said. Initially, MC Mary Kom was supposed to be the chef de mission for Paris.
Asked on medals from Paris, Gagan Narang was not willing to make a prediction on numbers. There is fond hope India will win more medals than in Tokyo, when Neeraj Chopra led the charge with a javelin gold. There are many more champions waiting to explode in Paris. “The mindset change is important and we are witnessing a new beginning,” said Gagan.
Today, the support from the Indian government is phenomenal. “The support we have got from the government this time, we never got before. The support has increased in the past few years, TOPS’ players have increased, they have got all the facilities they wanted,” added Gagan Narang.
The new role as chef de mission makes Gagan happy. “I am happy and proud, this is an honour for me,” said the former rifle shooter who has won many awards. “I am hoping I can handle the pressure like I did in the London Olympics,” said Gagan.
