Congratulatory messages, laced with sympathy, have kept streaming in ever since ace shooter Jaspal Rana returned home, a bitter, heart-broken man. He has been out of home for most of the two days after his return, preferring to spend time with close friends.

"I'm happy that he shot so well," says Jaspal's proud mother. ``But a gold would have been just reward for his efforts," she adds, trying to hide her disappointment.

Jaspal's father Narain Singh Rana however, is an angry man today. "Silver is fine, but my son has been deprived of a gold medal because of the system here (in India). You make sacrificesto reach the pinnacle, and everything just goes away in a second... a misfiring gun. It is ridiculous," the senior Rana says.

"You can do your best, but what do you do about technical problems. Jaspal was shooting with a 10-year-old pistol, while all his opponents had better, newer equipment. You don't win medals this way."

Jaspal, incidently, did not have a spare pistol, and fell under pressure when his gun misfired in the standard pistol shoot-out for bronze. Then again, he failed to defend his gold in pet event, centre-fire pistol, when the side of his pistol fell off at the crucial juncture, leaving Rana in tears.

"We have been requesting the government to provide us with import license for the last two years to buy a new pistol. We are not asking for money, but nobody listens. You cannot go for a big event without spares," he points out. There was some criticism prior to the Games that Jaspal was not putting in his best. "He does not train enough," one of the coaches had said. Jaspal proved hiscritics wrong with a scintillating score of 589/600 at Bangkok."He had a world class score, but the government just talks of gold. My son is without a sponsor since February, and mind you, shooting is an expensive sport. But then, no sport but cricket can flourish in our country. There is no respect for sportpersons from other disciplines," the agitated father says.

Rana senior acknowledges that the National Rifle of Association of India (NRAI) had helped Jaspal in his endeavour chalking out his foreign itinerary, but he was very critical of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), saying: "SAI is nothing but a white elephant. Ninety percent of its budget goes in salaries."

Surely, the Sports and Youth Minister Uma Bharati's recent statement on a new Sports Policy should change things for the better? "If the new policy can change the system, it will definitely prove beneficial. As far as I'm concerned, there will be no more requests to the government."

"And any way, the next Asian Games is four years away.This episode of Misfiring Gun will conveniently be forgotten much sooner," the angry father shrugs.