Despite missing the Asiad Gold, India's ace shooter Gagan Narang will remain Asia's No. 1, as per the latest Asian rankings issued by the Asian Shooting Confederation.
He had lost his gold to Chinese ace Zhu Qinan by a whisker in the Asian Games. But that did not had any impact on the rankings as their pre-tournament there was a huge difference in points between the two. Narang had won a silver medal, a first by an Indian at the Asian Games in any rifle event.
2010 had been an eventful year for Narang, who won 16 medals from major international competitions around the world, which included 4 gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
"I can attribute the performances of 2010 to good planning and preparation. I had started the process a couple of years in advance and this really is the result of that process. I hope to build on what I have achieved in the last two years," Narang said.
Narang will start his 2011 season with the World Cup. He will also start his preparations for the 2012 Olympics. He became the first Indian to secure a berth in the London Games.
"Though unlike 2010 the coming year will not be packed with multi-discipline events, yet it promises to throw up multiple challenges. The quest will be to get from Asia NO 1 to World NO 1 which I had attained in 2006. Things have been up and down since then. Now my focus really is consistency in performance and better planning. There aren't much changes I need to do but I need to be back to basics. And do them really well" added Narang.