NRAI boss talks of ‘overhaul’ after India’s poor show

Tokyo, July 27: The Indian shooting federation on Tuesday promised an “overhaul” of the coaching staff after the 15-strong contingent’s Olympic campaign moved from one disaster to another here, the sport trending for all the wrong reasons, including intra-squad factionalism.
As the country’s shooters continued to belie expectations with their horror show here, reliving the Rio 2016 debacle, the head of the sport’s national governing body promised a major revamp in coaching and support staff.
“Definitely the performances have not been on expected lines and I have spoken of an overhaul of coaching and support staff,” National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) Raninder Singh told PTI.
He was speaking after the rifle and pistol shooters failed to clear the qualification stages of the mixed team events, leaving the followers of the sport dejected.
Questions are being raised about why the shooters were not able to replicate their excellent showing at the ISSF World Cups at the Olympics.
“I feel something is lacking in getting our shooters prepared for these big occasions, because clearly the talent is there and we have seen it here as well,” the NRAI boss said.
He said the federation and other stakeholders concerned did everything they could to help prepare the shooters for the Games, including implementing the recommendations of the panel led by Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra after the disastrous medal-less campaign in Rio de Janeiro five years ago.
The NRAI got former India shooter and coach Ronak Pandit to train medal hope Manu Bhaker after she fell out with junior national coach Jaspal Rana, and the president said he tried to sort things out between the two. However, he added that not all is still lost for the Indian shooting team as it’s left with a few more starts. (PTI)