In what could be termed path-breaking, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has finally decided to allow private coaches on board with shooters who wish to use their services in the run-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In the last fortnight, there has been plenty of chatter from the shooters, across disciplines, that they wished to rely on private coaches to optimise their performance. Proof of the pudding came at the selection trials held for rifle and pistol in New Delhi and Bhopal recently, where Manu Bhaker, Anish Bhanwala, and others like Elavenil Varivan and Arjun Babuta gave their best.
One of the key things to come out of the trials was that the best shooters could handle the heat and pressure. At the same time, there was hesitancy, initially, from the NRAI regrding only the national coaches going as support staff to Paris.
There was agreement finally after the shooters had been in constructive dialogues with Kalikesh Singh Deo, the NRAI vice president, and Pierre Beauchamp, the high performance director, since last week. On Wednesday night, a shooting squad left for the ISSF World Cup in Munich. After that, they will be training in Luxembourg or France.
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As per the new discussions, the shooters who have personal coaches have to sign an agreement and send it back to the NRAI. These private coaches have to follow a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) with a lot of dos and don’ts. What stands out is that all the coaches are expected to work in harmony to produce the best results.
After the camp in Europe, the shooters will return to India. They will take a 10-day break, then regroup in Bhopal. Which private coaches travel to the Paris Olympics along with the national coaches remains to be seen, but that will be as per discussions between the NRAI and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). It is well known that Jaspal Rana, Deepali Sirsat, Harpreet Singh and Neha Chavan have been working with shooters for pistol and rifle events.
The SOP details have been kept confidential, but RevSportz can confirm that coaches will work with more trust and not look at secrecy when it comes to sharing coaching methods. If at all any conflict arises due to ideological reasons, Beauchamp will have the final say. He is empowered to take a call on issues where he needs to step in.
A lot of shooters who have made the cut for Paris 2024 are happy with the latest development, but are not willing to come on record. It is very much possible that some private coaches could even travel abroad for the camp in France or Luxembourg. It is to be noted that even in the shotgun, several shooters are using their own coaches, including Rajeshwari Kumari in trap and Maheshwari Chauhan in skeet.
With the NRAI delaying the naming of the final team for the Paris Olympics, it will be interesting to see which coaches punch their tickets for the Games. For the 21 shooters who have qualified, there can be seven or eight support staff at the most. How the slots are finally used up will be interesting to see. There is a strong possibility that the number of shooters who finally travel will be 22, with one quota swapped from the pistol events.
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