Shooting Is 98 % Mental And 2% Physical: Gagan Narang


Shooting Is 98 % Mental And 2% Physical: Gagan Narang

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XIX Commonwealth Games-2010 Delhi: Gagan Narang after winning Gold medal in (Men’s) Shooting Rifle 50m pairs at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, in New Delhi on October 08, 2010.

All the sports events all over the world has been suspended since March and it is becoming difficult for athletes to keep themselves fit both mentally and physically.

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On Friday, Shooter Gagan Narang highlighted on the need for a calm and composed mind to face the challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic.  Narang joined Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and spoke on a range of issues in a discussion titled ‘Fitness! A Way of life’.

“Shooting is 98 percent mental, 2 percent physical. In this current lockdown scenario, the role of being mentally fit is very important. If you aren’t mentally fit to make decisions it reflects poorly,” Narang said.

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The 37-year-old shooter added, “Physical and mental fitness complement each other. If you aren’t mentally fit, you don’t get the thought.” His sport has become tougher over the years”.

Narang further said that shooting is a tough sport to play because it takes a lot of physical and mental fitness. He believes nowadays without physical fitness you can’t compete at the highest level.

“Shooting is a tough sport to play, and it takes a lot of physical and mental fitness to play it. “Demand of shooting is such nowadays with the kind of competition there is, that you can’t compete at the highest level without being physically fit,” he said.

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Sports Minister Rijiju also spoke about his ambition to see India become a country with a sporting culture, one where the youngsters are not spending their time on electronic gadgets.

Narang said that India has a tradition of sports but children need to move away from electronic gadgets to make India a big sporting nation.

“We have tradition of sports in our country but have unfortunately not become a big sporting nation because sport has not become a culture. We need to draw inspiration from the past.” Rijiju said

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“Once we have sports culture, we can create excellence. We need to move children away from electronic gadgets. We need to have an active culture. Natural growth of human beings should be allowed to take place at own pace,” Rijiju said

The minister added that more than 1.6 lakh schools of India have registered under the Fit India Movement.

Narang who started shooting at the age of 14, had earlier dabbled in cricket, tennis and football and said he zeroed in on shooting because it challenged his mental abilities.

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“Lockdown has given us self-realization. What we used to think is valuable, is not valuable anymore. Eating right and at the right time is very important. Because of the lockdown, people are taking care of their health. The lockdown has been a boon for some. We must take the lessons of this lockdown. Take care of our mind, body, families and become a positive human being,” Narang concluded.