Published: September 26, 2026 at 4:29 pm
The sudden demise of legendary shooter Jaspal Rana on June 12, 2026, left many shattered and shocked. He was just a few days away from celebrating his 50th birthday but, sadly, it was not to be. Jaspal’s life was not short of drama, controversies and celebrations.
Senior sports journalists S Kannan and G Rajaraman, who were very close to the genius shooter, paid an emotional tribute in their book Maverick Jaspal –The man who changed Indian shooting.
I had meet Jaspal at the 2002 National Games in Hyderabad. His humility and the gentle answers are still vivid in my memory.
Kannan says his editor Ashok Kamat had told him not to treat Jaspal as a one-para news item. That was enough for Kannan to dash to Jaspal’s modest house in Pushp Vihar, a government colony in Delhi, to do a story talking to Jaspal’s mother. This was after Jaspal had won a gold at the World Junior Championship in Milano, Italy. It was the start of a bond between Jaspal and Kannan. The journey began and gradually Jaspal exploded on the shooting horizon.
“My first meeting with the 18-year-old was in Tughlakabad. It was a nervous interaction in the office of the legendary administrator Manmeet Singh Giondi,” says Kannan. From that moment Kannan fell in love with shooting and with Jaspal.
NRAI mourns the untimely death of legendary shooter and coach Jaspal Rana
“Once I broke the ice, it became easy,” said Kannan, while writing about the journey of an incredible man. “Jaspal was a man in a hurry. He lived life in the fast lane, literally. Much later, in life, Jaspal did admit he should have been more patient, spent more hours mastering slow fire,” says Kannan in the book.
The 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan was a landmark event for Jaspal, according to Kannan. “Came the big day when Jaspal was competing in the centre-fire pistol event in Hiroshima. It was his favourite event. He could shoot from memory even if you had woken him from sleep. There was an issue with his weapon, but Jaspal did not let it affect him. He won gold. Two medals, from Hiroshima were a rich haul for Jaspal Rana, clear sign that he was big in Asia,” the book states.
The book also speaks of how Jaspal handled pressure. He would say: “If I step into the range, I don’t think of anything else, I focus on my target, squeeze the trigger. It’s a rinse and repeat cycle.”
As a Garhwali blessed with a robust physique, Jaspal achieved plenty on the shooting range. The junior World Cup gold in the 25m Standard pistol event was the beginning of a remarkable journey that would take him to the pinnacle of shooting and, later, made him one of the most influential coaches in Indian sport.
As rightly said at the start of the book, Jaspal was fiercely competitive, uncompromising and impossible to ignore. He inspired a generation of young shooters to believe that they too could make it to the world stage, regardless of where they came from. He won championships, challenged conventions, fought battles and created a championship of his own. Jaspal may have not won an Olympic medal, but he brought shooting closer to the common people by achievements.
Jaspal’s exploits gave rise to many shooters
In fact, those days it was not all easy, be it in terms of infrastructure, sponsorships, national camps or ammunition. Jaspal, however, overcame all odds to emerge as a champion. His exploits gave rise to shooters like Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won a double-trap silver in Athen Olympics, Abhinav Bindra who won a gold in 10m Air Rifle event in Beijing. It was the start of shooting becoming India’s big hope in the Olympics.
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Although he could not get an Olympic medal, Jaspal earned it through his most successful pupil Manu Bhaker, who stunned the world with two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. There was much drama when there were differences between Jaspal and Manu. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021 because of Covid-19) disaster led to people blaming Jaspal for no fault of his. However, there was a reunion of the coach and his pupil.
There was a time when Jaspal was jobless. “I felt a bit sad that a coach who was guiding Manu Bhaker was jobless. He was dying to get some official recognition,” says Kannan.
Jaspal Rana and Manu Bhaker after the latter won two bronze medals at the Paris Olympic Games. Pic: The Hindu
The long hours of training with Jaspal made Manu a confident shooter, be it change in the grip or technique. “She slogged and Jaspal had done his best to ensure she could handle pressure. He was the ultimate guru, coach, mentor, mental training expert, and someone who could keep Manu calm.”
The female shooter made history by winning two bronze medals. Although Jaspal could not sit near Manu as the official coach, he could be in the arena and guided the shooter through eye contact from the stands.
Sadly, Jaspal’s journey came to an abrupt end.
It is never easy writing about someone in the past tense: Rajaraman
Rajaraman said Jaspal Rana’s death on June 12 hit him like a ton of bricks, crushing his heart especially as he was expected to be discharged after a stenting procedure following a heart attack a few days earlier. “It is never easy writing about someone in the past tense. It is never easy writing about an athlete-coach-thinker with the knowledge that there will be no more conversations with him,’’ said Rajaraman, who says that Jaspal’s 25m Standard Pistol gold in junior world championship sparked powerful motivational consequences. “More so because he had no heritage or history to fall back on. He ushered in a belief that was almost magical.
“Almost single handedly, he changed the perception that shooting sports was for the royalty and the elite. That ushered in a revolution. If a sport that is considered an elitist pursuit changed and became a mass sport, it was because Jaspal Rana’s rise in the 90s was a massive catalyst,” says Rajaraman.
If a sport that is considered an elitist pursuit changed and became a mass sport, it was because Jaspal Rana’s rise in the 90s was a massive catalyst,” says G Rajaraman
The Hyderabad-born Rajaraman, who has since settled in Delhi, was official Press Attache for the 2024 Paris Olympics and had become close to Jaspal. He saw how the coach uncapped his emotions – in private. “I must hasten to add soon after Manu Bhaker won the women’s 10m air pistol bronze medal, making history, I had to bring him to a waiting room adjacent to the media centre and press conference room for the coach and his ward to meet for the first time after that bit of history was made. A load was off his shoulders, and he spent a few moments alone, his mind replaying freeze frames from the past three years and more. Now, his redemption was complete.”
The book brings the man behind the legend back to life
Rajaraman had the opportunity to interact with Jaspal and was amazed with his insight to coaching. “He pointed out that at the elite level, coaching has more to do with the mental side of preparation than the technical side. It is all mental at this level. From a technique perspective, these athletes are far superior to us. We cannot teach them the basics at this level, but we have to preserve them and get them to deliver the best under the circumstance.”
Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, in his tribute said: “Many great athletes inspire through their own performances. Fewer possess the generosity to devote themselves to nurturing the next generation. Jaspal embraced that responsibility wholeheartedly.”
Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat rightly said: “For me, Jaspal was the original barrier-breaker of Indian shooting.”
The book brings the man behind the legend back to life. The champion who never knew how to surrender. The coach who forged champions. The force of will that changed Indian shooting. Truly, a perfect script for a Bollywood movie.
