NRAI boss wants support staff ‘overhaul’ after Indian shooters disappoint in Tokyo Olympics

Raninder Singh, the president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), spoke on the performances of the Indian Shooting squad so far at the Tokyo Olympics. Raninder said there is a need for an overhaul in the coaching and support staff after most of the Indian shooters failed to qualify for the medal rounds.

“Yes definitely the performances have not been on expected lines and I have spoken of an overhaul of coaching and support staff as 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,” Raninder said.

India went to the Tokyo Olympics with their strongest ever contingent with 15 shooters but has so far has not managed to win a medal. In fact, apart from Saurabh Chaudhary – who finished seventh in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol event – none of the shooters managed to qualify for the medal rounds.

India’s Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary finished seventh in the qualification stage 2 of 10M Air Pistol Mixed Team competitions on Tuesday, day four of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Shooting competition at the Asaka Shooting range in Tokyo.

After topping the first qualification round with a score of 586 out of 600, and showing glimpses of the form that made them win four world cup gold medals, Manu and Saurabh fell short of the medals rounds by four points in the second, finishing with a score of 380 out of 400.

The second Indian pair of Abhishek Verma and Yashaswini Deswal could not make it beyond the first qualification round, finishing 17thwith a score of 564. The two Indian pairs in the 10M Air Rifle Mixed Team event also could not progress beyond the first round of qualification. Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar shot a combined 626.5 for a 12thplace finish while Deepak Kumar and Anjum Moudgil shot 623.8 to also finish outside the top eight at 18thspot.

Raninder, however, urged everyone to back the shooters, who still have a shot at getting a medal.

“Having said that we still have starts left and the team is fighting so let’s continue to back the team and I am sure we’ll get results. Post-mortems can wait till after the Games.”

Day five has the Trap competitions on schedule where India has no entry, but day six will see Rahi Sarnobat and Manu Bhaker pick up the fight again in the Women’s 25M Pistol qualifications.