National rifle coach Laszlo Szucsak quit in March, angry with the functioning of the NRAI and SAI. “I continued for months without a salary or any kind of contract,” he claims. Szucsak’s unfortunate exit is not the first time that a reputed coach has left because of bureaucratic problems. Hungarian pistol coach Csaba Gyorik quit in September last year and though the NRAI maintains that his contract was not renewed because of poor performance, that might not be the entire story.
In a recent interview with a shooting website, Szucsak said he wanted to continue in this country for a longer period and finish the task he had started. “During the last four years, my boys have won a basketful of medals in various competitions at the Asian and world level. We had a huge
Haul of medals at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. We were one of the leading countries as far as bagging of Olympic quotas in rifle events was concerned. But given the way I was treated, I couldn’t have stayed any longer; it was beyond my interest and safety,’’ he said.
Szucsak had expressed his willingness to continue till the next Olympics and blames the NRAI and SAI for his decision to leave. “I was never given a proper contract. I was not happy with working methods. I never bargained. I just wanted a plain ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Though my contact expired on August 31, 2008, there was no subsequent offer from the Indian authorities. I returned home but kept in touch with Indian shooters. After I returned to India in November last year, I was shocked to see that my entire training programme had been erased. After negotiations, SAI gave me a three-month contract. What a deal after six years of service! Later, the contract was extended to six months. When we started training in December, I hoped everything would fall in place. The NRAI promised to pay the salary due to me but I never got it. Also, I did not get a two-year contract as promised.” Szucsak, who now has a coaching contract in Iran, insists that he hasn’t left for a higher salary but better working conditions.
NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia maintains that the association did everything possible to hold back Szucsak. “We requested the sports ministry to give Szucsak a long-term contract and also recommended that he be given a salary hike. But the SAI did not respond to our proposal.We can only make recommendations; the
government takes decisions on contracts. We were helpless in Szucsak’s case. It is a big loss. We have to look for new coaches,
both in the rifle and pistol categories,’’ says Bhatia.
injury to olympic champion abhinav bindra
Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, troubled by a back injury, will skip all major international shooting events this year. The 10m air-rifle champion has decided to rest because international events this year do not offer quota berths for the 2012 London Olympics. Bindra, according to national coach Sunny Thomas, will continue training for the prone and three-position events.
Thomas adds that India’s aim at the World Cup events in Changown (April 8 to 16) and Beijing (April 16 to 24) will be to achieve the minimum qualifying score (MQS) for the London Olympics. The Indian team for these two events has been selected with an eye on next year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
