Walther presents ‘technologically advanced’ gun to Gagan Narang

• The German gun makers to support Gagan Narang’s Gun For Glory Shooting Academy

Pune, June 7: As Gagan Narang prepares for the Rio Olympic Games, German gun makers Walther on Tuesday presented the Olympic bronze medallist with a technologically advanced air gun with which he would compete in Brazil in less than 60 days time.

Narang had been using Walther air gun since he took to shooting 19 years ago and it was on this brand of gun that he achieved the world record of 600 out of 600.

Considering that newer technology had come in, Narang needed to change his gun for better results and what would be better than tried and tested Walther.

Besides having an electronic trigger, the gun is made so that it adjusts to the shooters’ shoulder rather than shooter forced to adjust to the gun. Also the weight of the gun is lighter than the old one, which should give Narang some advantage.

“I will be using this gun at Rio Olympics. Unlike in the past when one needed to spend much time to get adjusted to the gun, the technology has reduced that gap, so it will be easy for me to shoot with this new gun with same or better scores,” said Narang.

The gun was presented to Narang by the Wulf Heinz Pflaumer, President of Carl Walther Group in the presence of Alexander Lenert, CEO of Walther Group, Hichem Hanafi, Export Manager, Walther Group and Pawan Singh, Director of Gun For Glory Shooting Academy.

“Besides the weapon and weaponry, what is important is the person who is holding the gun. I am in fine shape for the Games and the preparations are in full swing. The reduced weight of the trigger is what I was looking for, which this gun has made it possible,” said Narang.

Walther Group, which has been associated with the Gun For Glory Shooting Academy since its inception, announced their whole-hearted support to Gagan Narang’s initiative in popularizing the sport of shooting.

“We know what Narang has done. He has taken the sport to the grass root in India. But there is more work to be done and we are sure that he would achieve it in the coming years,” said Pflaumer.

Pointing out that in Germany football clubs have the largest membership, while shooting follows at the second place.

“We want to see more people in India take to shooting. If that happens in the near future then India will have more Olympic and world champion from shooting,” Pflaumer added.

Walther has so far given 50 guns to the Gun for Glory Shooting Academy over the years since the partnership was forged in 2011.

Speaking about the Academy, Pawan Singh said that they already have started 12 academies across India and more are in pipeline.

“We keep getting requests from various cities for starting the Gun For Glory Shooting Academy, but currently we are at shortage of coaches. We intend to address that by the year end,” Pawan Singh informed.

While the Pune is the headquarters, the second academy in the state is at Dombivali in Mumbai, while it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative that saw Gujarat having several academies—two in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, while Junagad is also in the making.

Also, Telangana Government is showing interest in shooting and an academy is planned there too, besides the functional center at Hyderabad.