Olympics diary: Narang's wedding plans on hold

Gagan Narang opens medal count for India

London: Has Gagan Narang’s life changed after winning an Olympic bronze medal in the 10m air-rifle at the London Olympics on Monday? Not quite. It has been business as usual for the Indian marksman as Narang trains for two more events coming up later this week.

Team sources say Gagan has been extremely focused. The bronze medal certainly hasn’t robbed his work ethics as he remains committed to winning at least one more medal for India. The 29-year-old from Hyderabad has been training at the Royal Artillery Barracks for the 50m rifle prone qualifiers on Friday and the 50m rifle three-position qualifiers on August 6.

Narang is not celebrating his bronze yet. It’s been just coke, chips and the meals at the Games Village. The bubbly has to wait for some time, Narang has told his teammates. Apparently, he told the media that he has kept his marriage plans on hold till the Games are over.

However, the feeling of winning a bronze has been slowly sinking in. On Monday, when he won the medal, he was drenched with emotions. He later said: "Beijing I missed and it was heartbreak. It's a huge stone off my chest with this one."

Whether London was his greatest achievement so far in his career? "Not really. I think scoring 600 is always challenging and exciting and I had a few technical challenges in the third round. An Olympic medal is an Olympic medal, he said."

Narang will now aim for a medal in the 50m three-position. He had finished 13th in Beijing Games in 2008 but won the World Cup in 2009. Narang will be the one to beat.

Holyfied? Who?

One of the world’s greatest ever heavyweight champions went virtually unrecognised by US network NBC! The 1984 Olympic bronze winner appeared for a fleeting second for a chat show on the London Games opening ceremony. Holyfied was interviewed outside Buckingham Palace. One viewer tweeted: “Evander Holyfield was interviewed by the Today Show. Didn’t credit him. Just thought he was a random dude.” Generation gap or pure ignorance, this is not the first time NBC’s Olympics coverage has come in for criticism.

Party time for senior citizens!

Senior citizens are flocking to the Games every day. Anne Miller from Rotterdam was at Wembley on Tuesday to watch a session of badminton with husband, Colin. Both in their Seventies, the senior citizens are enjoying the concessional tickets that the London organisers have offered online. “At 16 Pounds, I think we can see at least an event. Normally these would be 10 times costlier,” Anne said, adding that for the common man, it is difficult to afford a normal ticket to a Wimbledon or Wembley. The Olympic fever is catching on with the oldies!