Who Was Jaspal Rana, Shooting Legend Who Passed Away At 49?

Indian shooting legend Jaspal Rana has passed away on Friday. He was aged 49.

Rana fell ill after an ISSF World Cup. This took place in Munich recently. He felt pain during his return flight. He went to Max Hospital in Delhi. Doctors found a heart blockage. They inserted a stent to assist him. Unfortunately, the treatment failed to save him.

Who Was Jaspal Rana?

Jaspal Rana was one of India's most renowned shooters, born on June 28, 1976, in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. He specialized primarily in the 25m Centre Fire Pistol category and also excelled in Free Pistol, Air Pistol, Standard Pistol, and Rapid Fire Pistol events, winning more than 600 medals in national and international shooting competitions throughout his career.

His glittering sporting record included 15 gold medals in world-class competitions, with 4 Asian Games gold medals (including one at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima and golds at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha), 9 Commonwealth Games gold medals, one Asian Championships gold, and one World Junior Championships gold from 1994 to 2006. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1994 at the age of 19, one of India's highest sporting recognitions, and later received the Padma Shri in 2002 for his record-breaking performances.

After retiring from competitive shooting, Rana transformed into a highly influential coach and high-performance trainer for Indian shooting, guiding notable shooters including Manu Bhaker to her historic double bronze-medal feat at the Paris Olympics. He served as the junior national team coach and last held the position of High-Performance Coach for India's pistol shooters.

His father Narayan Singh Rana, a Border Security Force official, was his mentor and source of inspiration, and he was married to Reena Rana, who also happens to be a shooter, with two children. He later entered politics as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hoping to contest elections from Uttarakhand. Rana was widely regarded as a giant of Indian sport who shone when India was searching for a global sporting identity, and his death was confirmed by the NRAI president Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo.