Gagan Narang to mentor 135 young shooters

With an ambitious goal of finding 10 best Indian shooters to chase medals in the 2024 Olympics, ace shooter Gagan Narang is all set to provide advanced training to 135 young players under his Project Leap initiative.

Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation's (GNSPF) backed Project Leap trained shooters are already making strong impression at the international arena.

The project, in its second year, has initiated its annual trial for all talented young shooters from across the country.

An unprecedented 176 shooters had applied and 130 have been selected for the trial which is currently underway at the state of the art Gun for Glory shooting Academy in Pune.

This will be the first time that this highly cognitive trial has been made open for all shooters of the country falling under the age group of under-21 and the final selected best shooters will be trained by immensely experienced Slovakian rifle coach Anton Belak and South Korean pistol coach Kim Seonia and mentored by the ace Olympic bronze-medallist shooter, Narang himself.

"We initiated Project Leap with an ambitious goal of finding India its 10 best shooters as part of Vision 2024. We knew the potential of the Project but had to start modest and hence restricted it for Gun for Glory shooters in year one; the results have been phenomenal. Backed with the success of last year we have rolled out the project for all youth and junior shooters with the hope of unearthing more talent who have been untapped so far," said Narang.

Elavenil Valarivan, who was recently inducted in TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) and who won Gold at the recently concluded ISSF Junior World Cup, is already part of 2018 Project Leap along with Mahima Turhi Aggarwal; as both are ensuring performances at the international stage so these two shooters will figure in the 2018 list of support as well in Project Leap.

A total of 20 best young shooters will be inducted in Project Leap this year.