NEW DELHI: The Qatar skeet team have won three medals (a silver and two bronze) so far at the ongoing World Cup here at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. The second of the bronze arrived on Tuesday, courtesy Reem Al Sharshani and Rashid Hamad in the mixed team skeet event. That is a reminder of the eclectic bunch of shooters Qatar have bought to New Delhi.
While Reem comes from one of the foremost sporting families in the country they are represented in swimming, racing and golf — Al-Attiyah, a six-time Olympian, is a Dakar champion. One member, however, is well known to Indians: Ennio Falco. The former India skeet coach is now in Qatar’s corner. And his current team praised their new coach, admitting his inputs helped them win medals at this event. Al-Attiyah, in fact, last medalled at the World Cup in 2001, before winning a bronze in skeet at the ongoing meet.
“We have had a great start so far and all the athletes are improving. We have a long road ahead and I’m focussing on producing a team strong enough to compete on the biggest stage by the next Olympics,” the Italian said. It must have been strange for him to see his former wards clinch a gold in the team event, beating his own wards while the mixed team of Angad Bajwa and Ganemat Sekhon helped India claim their seventh gold medal of the World Cup when they beat Kazakhstan’s Alexandr Yechshenko and Olga Panarina 33-29 on Tuesday.
“We are professionals at the end of the day. It does hurt to lose but I’m happy for team India. They have improved a lot over the years and the emergence of young shooters like Angad and Gurjoat Khangura bode well for the sport.” After being a regular on these ranges for so many years, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics gold medallist has fond memories of the place and still considers this almost like his home range. But due to some differences with the NRAI over selection issues, he had to leave his post but the 53-year-old revealed he had no regrets and certainly no ill feelings.
Leaving at such a crucial juncture might have strained the relations of most, but not Falco’s. In fact, all the Indian shooters kept coming up to him and there was quite a bit of healthy banter going on. “These things happen in sport and I’m grateful the NRAI gave me the opportunity to train all these talented shooters.
As far as getting a new coach on board is concerned, I don’t think it would be wise to get anyone prior to Tokyo as there is very little time to implement changes. Me not being there will not affect the two quota holders as they know what it takes to win.” As far as training is concerned, the Indian pair of Mairaj and Angad will travel to Italy early next month not only to train but also to fix certain issues with their equipment.