Jaspal Rana

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Jaspal Rana was born 28 June 1976 in Uttarkashi District of Uttarakhand, India.^{[citation needed]} He is an Indian shooter who specializes in the 25m Centre Fire Pistol category.^{[citation needed]}

He grew up in Delhi, studying at K.V. Air Force School and St. Stephen's and Sri Aurobindo colleges.^{[citation needed]} His Guru at his early was his father, Shri Narayan Singh Rana who was a BSF official.^{[citation needed]}Later on he coached to perfection by Sunny Thomas and Tibor Ganazol.^{[citation needed]}

Rana made his national debut at the age of 12 when he grabbed a Silver Medal at the 31st National Shooting Championship at Ahmedabad in 1988.^{[citation needed]}

He shot into fame through Standard Pistol only when he won a Gold at the 46th World Shooting Championship (Junior Section) with a world record score at Milan in Italy in 1994.^{[citation needed]}

He won most of his medals in the Centre Fire Pistol event, but also made a mark in Air Pistol, Standard Pistol, Free Pistol and Rapid Fire Pistol as well.^{[citation needed]} Jaspal Rana won more than 600 Medals in State as well as International Level.^{[citation needed]}He got the Arjuna Award one of the highest award for achievements in Sport by Government of India in the year 1994.^{[citation needed]}

At the Asian Games 2006 in Doha, Qatar, he equaled the World record in 25 m Center-Fire Pistol with 590 points.^{[citation needed]} Previously, he had achieved this score twice (1995 in Coimbatore and 1997 in Bangalore) in national competitions.^{[citation needed]}Controversy was evoked by the Olympic Association of India when they announced that Rana would receive the 'Best Sportsperson' for the Asian Games.^{[citation needed]} In reality, it was Tae Hwan Park of Korea who was given the award.^{[citation needed]}Rana was graceful about the goof-up.^{[citation needed]}

Rana is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.^{[citation needed]}Shortly after the Asian Games, Jaspal Rana indicated that he would be interested in contesting elections and campaigning for the party.^{[citation needed]} The Indian media has reported he will most likely be fielded in next year's Assembly Elections from his home state of Uttarakhand.^{[citation needed]} He said he will continue his athletic career regardless.^{[citation needed]}

He is married to Reena Rana, also a shooter, and has 2 kids (one daughter and one son). His sister Sushma Rana is also a shooter.

[edit] Major achievements

Gold Medal in Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994
Gold medal in the Men's 25m Centre Fire Pistol (Pairs) with Samaresh Jung at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Gold Medals in the 25m Standard Pistol and 25m Center Fire Pistol at the Doha Asian Games on 7-8th Dec 2006^[1]
Rana equalled the world record while winning the 25 m Center Fire Pistol event, by aggregating 590 points.