CHENNAI: When Indian shooters booked four Olympic quotas at the turn of 2016, the mood was upbeat. With those hits, berths secured by Indians shot up to a dozen — the highest in shooting at an edition of the event for the country.
Those who qualified were sent to foreign exposure tours, given mental conditioning and a chance to work under specialised coaches. Up to the training period, things looked fine. But after they landed in Rio, things started falling apart. One after another, including a few narrow misses, the shooters exited empty-handed — for the first time since 2004. Even thoroughbreds like Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang were unable to break the duck. Jitu Rai, billed as the best prospect, was undone by nerves.
Former pistol coach Mohinder Lal reckons lack of proper training was a factor leading to the debacle. “We lacked adequate training. Olympics was a big miss for shooting. A camp for a few days did not serve the purpose,” he reflected. “There were shooters not happy with the methods of the foreign coaches. I feel that was another reason.”
It was like back in high school after the failure for shooters, as the National Rifle Association of India compiled a report card on every participant. After meeting shooters and coaches, the Bindra-led review committee concluded there was a communication gap between the national body, SAI, shooters and coaches.
Shooters with personal coaches did very little to collaborate with national coaches and vice versa.
Lack of planning/monitoring led to the undercooked preparation which hurt talented shooters like Jitu. The committee felt change in policies was the need of the hour.
After securing those four quotas in front of the home crowd, such a performance was the least that the fans expected. It was a huge letdown because expectations were high. In hindsight, 2016 was a big reality check for shooters. Despite talent, they still have a long way to go if they are to do well consistently at the highest level.
anmol@newindianexpress.com