Jaspal Rana

Jaspal Rana (born June 28, 1976) is an Indian shooter. He contested mainly in the 25 m Centre Fire Pistol category. He was a gold medallist at the 1994 Asian Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, and 2006 Asian Games. At present, Rana coaches at the Jaspal Rana Institute of Education and Technology in Dehradun.

Early Life

Rana was born in Uttarakhand. He grew up in Mussoorie, Dehradun Nainbagh and later on in Delhi and studied at the K.V. Air Force Station Tughlkabad, and St. Stephen’s and Sri Aurobindo colleges. His first coach was his father, Narayan Singh Rana, an ITBP official. Later on Tibor Ganazol coached him to perfection.

Rana made his national début at the age of 12, at the 31st National Shooting Championship at Ahmedabad and won won a Silver Medal. He shot into Standard Pistol shooting fame when he won Gold at the 46th World Shooting Championship (Junior Section) with a world record score at Milan, Italy, in 1994.

International Events

Rana won most of his medals in the Centre Fire Pistol event, but has also won Air Pistol, Standard Pistol, Free Pistol and Rapid Fire Pistol events. He has won more than 600 Medals at the national and international levels.

At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, he equalled the world record in 25 m Center Fire Pistol with 590 points (he had made this score twice previously; in 1995 in Coimbatore, and in 1997 in Bangalore in the national competitions). The Indian Olympic Association sparked controversy when it announced that Rana would receive the ‘Best Sportsperson’ award at the Asian Games; but it was awarded to Korea’s Tae Hwan Park. Rana was graceful about the goof-up.

Major Achievements

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

Awards and recognition

In 1994, he was awarded Arjuna Award, the second highest award for achievement in sport, by the Indian government at an age of eighteen, by twenty one he became PadamShree and in between he was awarded National Citizen award by none other than Mother Teresa, other awards of national fame also came his way like windfall.

Political Career

Rana is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Shortly after the Asian Games, he indicated that he would be interested in contesting elections and campaigning for the party. Recently political party BJP has announced that Rana will be contesting Lok Sabha elections from Tehri seat which also comprises most of the Dehradun town, Uttarkashi and Tehri district of Uttarakhand.

Personal Life

He is married to a lovely lady Reena Rana, also a fashion designer and National Level Shooter, and has two children, one daughter Devanshi, and son Yuvraj.