By: PTI | New Delhi | Updated: February 8, 2017 2:56 pm Gagan Narang will look to get his act right when the years first ISSF World Cup begins. (Source: File)

Olympic bronze-medallist GaganNarang says shootings ecosystem will take a hit if theISSF Athletes Committees recommendation for mixed-gender team events for future Olympics, starting with the 2020 edition in Tokyo, is ratified by the world body.

In a decision that evoked mixed response, the ISSFAthletes Committee, headed by Indias lone individual Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra, recommended mixed-gender team events for the Olympic Games.

The panel has sought to replace the double-trap mensevent with a mixed-gender trap event, convert the 50m pronemens event into a mixed-gender air rifle event and the 50mpistol mens event into a mixed-gender air pistol event.

Speaking to PTI, Narang, one of Indias most versatileshooters, said, The ecosystem of shooting sport will take a hit with these three events going out of the Olympic program.

The ace shooter, though, promptly added, But like manyothers, I will also cross the bridge when we get to it.

Unlike some of Indias top pistol shooters, Narang is notdeeply saddened but ready to embrace it.

When asked to elaborate on his statement that ecosystemof shooting will take a hit, Narang said, Prone is verypopular across the world and suppose it is dropped, so manyshooters who are shooting prone only will be out.

He felt the equipment manufacturing units will also beaffected.

Weapon manufactures will stop producing weapons,equipment required for 50m prone and 50m pistol events.

Citing another example, he said a 50m range that caters to three events now will cater to two only, if 50m prone and pistol are dropped.

The move follows the International Olympic Committeesobjective of international sport federations working towards a50 per cent female representation at the Games. Currently,shooting has nine mens and six womens events at the Olympics.

The 33-year-old Narang is currently not part of his petevent 10m air rifle in which he won the bronze medal at2012 London Olympics, but he is determined to regain peak form.

It has been my bread and butter event ever since Istarted shooting. Several injuries had set me back. I have hadan issue with my heel during the Rio Olympic Games. That camein the way of shooting my best scores. But I have recoverednow, changed my equipment, found out the flaws and been ableto plug the loopholes. Hopefully, I shall be back to my best in the next few months, Narang said.

From only prone at the moment, he plans to gradually getback to shooting in other events. Narang will look to get his act right when the years first ISSF World Cup begins in thecapital on February 22, where there will be no dearth of crowd support.

I am preparing to give my best shot for the World Cup.That said, I shall only be shooting one event 50m proneposition. This will be a good chance for me to win a medal infront of the home crowd, Narang said.

I will be competing in one event for now prone atthe moment and slowly it will shift to 10m air rifle. We donot know yet whether prone will continue to be a part ofOlympics 2020. So my focus will be on air gun and threeposition post the ISSF World Cup.

A winner of innumerable medals at global events such asthe World Championships, World Cups, Asian Games, CommonwealthGames and, of course the Olympics, Narang was in fordisappointment at the Rio Games last year.

I would say that the high in London was a result of theprocesses that were put in place during the Commonwealth Gamesin Delhi, two years ago.

A talent pool was recognised and the government,together with various other agencies worked towards helpingthem get the best. No such thing happened before Rio. Neitherwere the National camps regular. Also accountability was notthere. A lot of those things will now hopefully be fixed, hesaid.

A busy schedule awaits the shooters and Narang is lookingahead with optimism.

I think I will take one step at a time. The preparationfor any of these tournaments wont be drastically different.They will be a part of the process I have put in place. YesTokyo will be a big one but it is important to peak duringsome of the key tournaments as well.

Radical change is not needed in Indian shooting if it isrun by good people with administrative know-how.

I think it is headed in the right direction. Though Imust mention that it needs good people who have worked at theground level to administer and channelise talent in rightdirection.

There is no dearth of talent or opportunity but we haveto work hard to ensure that talent meets opportunity at theright time to have the right results. And we are here to helpin every way to see India bring home more medals duringOlympics 2020, he said.

Asked what he would like to give back to the sport oncehe retires from competitive shooting, Narang said, I amalready giving back to shooting sports through Gun For Glory.We are sixth year in the running.

What better way of giving back to sports than providingtraining and infrastructure to kids who want to becomechampions of tomorrow. I am helping them to dream big. I amhelping them to overcome obstacles that I faced as a young shooter.

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Change in Olympic events will hit shooting's ecosystem: Gagan ... - The Indian Express