Flood waters destroy Gagan’s Gun For Glory academy
Hyderabad: For London Olympic medallist Gagan Narang the Wednesday’s torrential rain proved a nightmare as it wreaked havoc on his Gun For Glory (GFG) Academy in Trimulgherry. The heavy downpour inundated his academy as the water seeped into their range damaging their imported equipment worth Rs 1.3 crore.
”I’m in shock. It’s been a torrid 24 hours for us as our nine years of hard work by the GFG was undone by this unexpected rain and deluge that totally ruined our academy.’’
Narang, who won bronze in the air-rifle 10m event in the 2012 Olympics, said he was at the Shamshabad airport and by the time he reached the venue, the rain water had done extensive damage to the equipment.
Gagan Narang. -Photo: Twitter
“I had brought all these equipment, like air rifle guns, pellets and stored it in Triumulgherry for the new proposed equipment at Gachibowli. But in one stroke my dreams have been shattered. It was meant to produce champions of tomorrow. We have put in hours of planning, and preparation to get this infrastructure going. It is not easy to create a world class venue like this one,’’ he lamented.
The 37-year-old, gold medallist in World Championships and Commonwealth Games, said the shooting range was very dear to him and had personal memories. “It was here that I would train along with shooters like Dhanush and Esha. even current world number 1 Elavenil. It is so special in very many ways. We are gutted and at wits end after this massive damage caused by the deluge,’’ he said.
Narang said 2020 has been a terrible one for him. “First it was Covid-19 and then floods have shattered our dreams. We were initially planning to start the new academy in the early part of this year and we had to postpone it because of Covid-19 and now this deluge has left me shattered. ’’
The ace shooter said he is trying to contact the German firm whether this equipment can be used again. ”I had brought about 90 odd air rifles and now we don’t know whether we can utilize them again. It is all lost for me now at present.’’
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