London 2012 Olympic medallist Gagan Narang’s pistols and rifles worth Rs 1.3 crore wrecked in Hyderabad floods
Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang runs an academy at the Tirumalgiri area in Secunderabad and had plans of starting another centre in Gachibowli on November 1
In Short
- Narang had bought pistols and rifles from Germany for his academy 'Gun for Glory' worth Rs 1.30 crores
- On Thursday, all the equipment were submerged under 8 feet of water
- According to Hyderabad IMD centre, the city received 19.2cm rainfall on October 14
Indian shooter Gagan Narang’s dreams of starting a new center of his academy in Hyderabad’s Gachibowli area suffered a huge blow on Friday, as equipments worth crores of rupees were wrecked by the floods that have crippled parts of the city.
The Olympic bronze-medallist runs an academy at the Tirumalgiri area in Secunderabad and had plans of starting another centre in Gachibowli.
This plan had been in the pipeline for several years now, and it was very close to becoming a reality as it was to be launched on November 1 this year.
These guns were to be used for our Telangana range project. Rain in the last 2 days dealt a heavy blow to our plans as this equipment worth 1.3cr procured 4 making champs was under 8 ft water. Our effort to produce shooting champs from Telangana washed away by rains @KTRTRS pic.twitter.com/vIluI140Yr — Gagan Narang (@gaGunNarang) October 15, 2020
A few months ago, the shooter had bought pistols and rifles from Germany for his academy 'Gun for Glory' worth Rs 1.30 crores. On Friday, he found the store room where all of this was kept to be submerged by water.
"The academy is in the cellar. The water flow was directly into it. I could not even open the shutter. I had hardly opened it and found all the material in the water." Gagan told News18.
"The material was not used even once. I will let them dry and have to check how many will work. I did not expect this disaster and had not insured the material as well. I don't know what to do? My dream of making shooting champions is spoiled." the Olympic medalist said.
Hyderabad facing severe floods in many parts of city
According to Hyderabad IMD centre, the city received 19.2cm rainfall on October 14, which is the highest in October since 1891.
Narang said he rushed to the academy after receiving a call from one of the officials but by the time he reached, the water levels had risen to more than five feet.
The shooter opened the academy in the Tirumalgiri area in 2015, four years after he had started the Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation (GNSPF). Last year, the GNSPF was awarded the Rashtriya Khel Purotsahan Puraskar at the National Sports Awards.