The injustice of remembering Jaspal Rana only as Manu Bhaker's coach

Friday was an unjust day for Indian sports. The first injustice was the news of Jaspal Rana's passing away. The second came moments later.

As the news of 49-year-old Rana's passing spread across the country, headline after headline described him as 'two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker’s coach'. It was factually correct, but it was also painfully incomplete.

Jaspal Rana was Manu Bhaker’s coach, but he was also much more.

He was the prodigy who made India and me notice shooting when most Indians barely knew the sport existed. He was the champion who brought home medals long before Olympic podiums became a national obsession. He was the trailblazer who became the benchmark for an entire generation of Indian shooters. And he was the mentor who ensured that he added an Olympic medal to his kitty, even if it was not as an athlete.

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Rana: The original shooting star

In the 1990s, when cricket dominated everything, Olympic sports were restricted to a four-year cycle. Yet there were a few names who made us sit up and take notice -- Leander Paes, Karnam Malleswari and Jaspal Rana.

Before Abhinav Bindra's Olympic gold and India's shooting revolution, there was Rana. He won his first national medal at the age of 12 and quickly established himself as one of the country's most extraordinary sporting talents. He would go on to become India's most successful Commonwealth Games athlete, collecting 15 medals across four editions, including nine gold medals. His Asian Games record was equally staggering, featuring four gold medals, including a remarkable three-gold haul at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

Today, shooting medals have almost become an expectation for India, but during Rana's heydays, they were exceptions.

Rana was among the first Indian shooters who made fans believe that Indians could consistently compete and win on the biggest stages. His victories came when coverage for sports was limited, but somehow, he still became an inspiration for many.

Perhaps no tribute captured his stature better than the one offered by Olympic medallist Gagan Narang.

“We measured ourselves against him.”

Amazingly, Rana's greatness did not end with his competitive career. If anything, Indian shooting benefited even more from the second version of the original star.

Jaspal Rana's successful second innings

With his heydays past him, the obsessive shooter became an obsessive coach as Rana dedicated himself to the next generation, working tirelessly with junior shooters and identifying talent long before the rest of India noticed it.

The list of athletes influenced by him stretches across generations. Saurabh Chaudhary, Anish Bhanwala, Manu Bhaker and more. His work with India's junior programme helped create the conveyor belt of talent that has turned shooting into arguably India's strongest Olympic sport.

The most famous success story was, of course, Manu Bhaker.

The images from Paris 2024 will remain etched in Indian sporting memory forever. Bhaker became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal. Then won the second one and celebrated it with his coach.

Manu Bhaker with coach Jaspal Rana after winning medals at the Paris Olympics. Image: Jaspal Rana/X

On Friday, as she bid farewell to the man who helped shape her career, Bhaker's words described her coach better than anything.

“Every medal will remind me of him.”

The outpouring of emotion from the shooting community, sports journalists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu revealed something else, too.

Rana was not respected merely because he won. He was respected because of who he was.

And it reminded us all of one major thing, that Indian shooting would not look the way it does today without Jaspal Rana. And it will not be the same going forward.