Hyderabad (Telangana): The floods due to torrential rain in Hyderabad damaged equipment worth Rs 1.3 crore, including rifles and pistols, in the city's Gun For Glory shooting academy helmed by Olympic medallist, Gagan Narang.
A gutted Narang spoke to ETV Bharat about the extent of damage the water caused. He said he had bought the rifles and pistols for the academy which was to begin functioning at the Gachibowli shooting range from November 1. The rifles and pistols were not used even once, he said.
"The equipment was brought from Germany two months ago for the academy at the Gachibowli Shooting Range and was never used. The academy was submerged in eight feet of water when I left home Tuesday night. No matter how hard I tried, the shutter did not open," Narang said.
"90 rifles and pistols worth about Rs 1.3 crore were submerged in water. We are drying them right now. I don't know how many of those will work, and how many are damaged. As we never expected such a disaster, we did not get insurance," the Olympic medallist rued.
The champion shooter, who took to mentoring a few years ago, said his dream to hone shooting champions from the state, was "washed away" by the rain.
"My dream of producing shooting champions from Telangana state has been washed away by the rain. I don't know what to do now. I had bought these pistols and rifles from Germany just two months ago," he said.
Read: Torrential rains in Telangana leave 50 dead
Meanwhile, Narang also tweeted pictures of the flooded academy, and tagged Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao.
"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," he tweeted.
-
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 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">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, 2020These 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
Narang had won the Bronze medal for India at the 2012 London Olympics. The shooter, a Padma Shri and Khel Ratna awardee, has also won multiple medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
Gun for Glory is a world-class shooting academy. It is an initiative started by Narang and Pawan Singh to promote the sport by blooding young talent at the right time in order to produce newer stars in the game.
Read: Hyderabad rains: KTR visits flood-affected areas, assures help to affected people
