Gagan needs a good rifle, says coach

Updated on: 14 October,2010 07:13 AM IST |
Sudheendra Tripathi |

If on Tuesday ace marksman Gagan Narang was done in by his unwell partner Hariom Singh, it was his rifle that let him down yesterday, according to India rifle coach Stanilav Lapidus.

If on Tuesday ace marksman Gagan Narang was done in by his unwell partner Hariom Singh, it was his rifle that let him down yesterday, according to India rifle coach Stanilav Lapidus. Narang, who was aiming to finish with six gold medals in as many competitions, eventually finished with four medals.
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"I am not satisfied," Lapidus said. "This rifle was just not good enough to provide a medal. It is absolutely important to have a good rifle in the prone event," Lapidus thundered after Narang failed to qualify for the final of the 50m prone position here at the Karni Singh Shooting Range.u00a0

"I could have done better, but I think we should look at the positives. The idea was to get maximum gold medals. But four gold medals with four new records is good," Narang said and admitted that he needs to sort out a few things in the prone rifle shooting event.

"I am struggling in the prone event," he confessed.

Meanwhile, India's national shooting coach Sunny Thomas felt that though India bettered its overall medal tally (they had won 27 medals in Melbourne and have won 30 at the Commonwealth Games here), he was disappointed by the fact that India only won 14 gold medals as against Melbourne's 16 in shooting.

"Overall the performance was okay.

"But I am disappointed that our gold medal tally has gone down. We need to focus a lot more," he said.

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