Of all the memories I have of him, I would remember Jaspal, the athlete, the most.
I’ve known him ever since I stepped into shooting. We began interacting when I made it to the national squad. He was the star of the team, the only one winning medals in our time. Back then, we only had one foreign coach, so both rifle and pistol teams were much more together, and Jaspal and I travelled to a lot of competitions together.
I can never forget one such trip.
We were on a 40-day tour in Europe in 1999, and I was due to get married that year (to Siddharth Shirur). Those were the days when we had no phones – or very few like Jaspal had one – and were on shoestring budgets. Staying in touch with family was not that easy, even financially. It was my birthday, and suddenly, Jaspal told me, “Siddharth has called”. I couldn’t believe it. He said, “No really”. I said, “You’re joking, can’t be”. He again said, “No really, talk to him”. I took the phone, and it was indeed Siddharth on the line, wishing me on my birthday. I was so happy. It made my day.
Later, Siddharth told me that it was Jaspal who kept trying to connect with him. In those days of landline phones, the only way he could contact Siddharth was in his office. He kept calling his office, and the receptionist would tell him Siddharth wasn’t there. [Jokingly, Jaspal later told me, “Tell Siddharth his receptionist has a very sweet voice!”]. He had to call a couple of times before he could finally reach him.
That was a very thoughtful thing to do. It was something so endearing it stayed in my mind for long. This is the person that Jaspal was.
Jaspal, the athlete, was a natural in the lane. He was a natural talent. Everything looked so effortless. He was the star of the team, but he never carried that aura outside the lane. I don’t remember talking about shooting with him at all. It was always more fun, light-hearted conversations.
At times, though, if he felt like he needed to, he would give suggestions. I remember when I was importing my rifle, by the time my import license arrived, the model became old. He was like, “Why are you buying the old model? Take the new one”. Since nobody else in the team had it, I wasn’t sure. But it was a very important suggestion, and I did end up taking the new rifle.
He had a lot of fun outside, but in the lane, he could get his act together. That is a very unique combination – where you can get into your zone once you’re on the lane, and have an equal amount of fun outside. Jaspal, the athlete, was really playful.
And once he became a coach, there was a very different side to him that everyone saw. That was a completely different phase, but his passion for shooting was the same.
He was one of the first coaches for pistol to be part of the NRAI’s junior programme. We were together as coaches with the national junior team, and also as experts with the Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy. That was a period when I was in touch with him the most and we worked extensively.
Getting the juniors to stay disciplined and get the best out of their performances was also a skill. And he was quite good at it. He definitely had his own unique style of coaching. But, the results speak for themselves. Manu Bhaker, of course, is the biggest example. I’m glad he could do that, glad he could see the Olympic medals coming from his coaching.
It was also good to see the recognition he received after the Paris Olympics. As coaches, we all had our own academies. Once, I wore a jersey from my Lakshya Shooting Club. Jaspal saw it and asked me, “Where’s mine?” I said, “Are you sure you’re going to wear it?” He said, “Why not?” And he did wear it.
This is not something that you will see everyone do, especially in this world where there’s so much competition in every aspect. But that was Jaspal – very light-hearted, very endearing.
– Suma Shirur is India’s former rifle shooter and Dronacharya awardee coach. As told to Rutvick Mehta.
