Former Olympic medal-winning India shooter Gagan Narang believes that the mindset of the current Indian athletes has taken a positive and confident curve, which will be immensely helpful for their Paris Olympics 2024 campaign. Narang explained to PTI reporters, that the confidence level of the current set of Indian athletes has reached a significantly improved margin, which has even given them the push to aim for winning gold medals.
As India’s 117 contingent aim to go beyond their all-time highest medal tally of 7 from the Tokyo games in the upcoming Paris Olympics, Narang believes that the current lot has a better coordinated support system compared to the previous structure.
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“There is a huge change in the motivation and the level of thinking our athletes have today. We used to feel scared, under-confident because other countries were better. But slowly that’s changed, the mindset (has) changed,” Narand said.
“People started watching sports, playing it, then we had great performances. Confidence is at a new high. Today’s athletes don’t go just to participate, they go to perform. “Someone in the top 8 or 5 wants to win a medal today and not just any medal, but a gold. That’s the difference in thinking of the athletes today. “They don’t think anyone is above them. They rate competitors at par and that’s a very positive sign for Indian sport,” Narand added.
With his role of being the Chef de Mission for India at the Paris Olympics, Narang stated how the organisations like the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Indian Olympics Association (IOA) have tweaked their support towards their athletes.
“There is unprecedented coordination between the Ministry and SAI, IOA NSFs. Hopefully, the athletes will be motivated and this will translate into medals…I feel happy and proud to be one of the few Chef De Missions who is also an Olympic medallist. There are a handful of people. It’s an honour for me. I contributed to shooting athletes, and now I’m able to contribute to all Indian athletes,” Narand added.
“It’s a proud moment for me and also a responsible one. I’m hoping I can handle pressure like I did in London (Olympics). It’s a different kind of pressure,” Narand added.
With both India’s men’s and women’s archery teams having sealed a spot in the Paris Olympics 2024 quarter-finals, it is safe to say that the country has started off on a positive note.