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Rana wants his old coach back
Triple Asian Games gold medallist Jaspal Rana demands that his former coach Tibor Gonczol be reinstated at the earliest.
Triple Asian Games gold medallist Jaspal Rana on Saturday demanded that his former Australian coach be reinstated at the earliest as he could not mend fences with incumbent Casaba Gyorik of Hungary.
Arriving back from Doha, Rana wasted no time in declaring his preferences and said Tibor Gonczol should be recalled.
Rana first tried to parry the issue, saying "there was a lot of time to make amends" with Gyorik but then candidly admitted that he would love to have his old coach back.
"I want my Australian coach back," he said.
Rana has claimed that he was not provided with adequate ammunition by the National Rifle Association of India because of Gyorik and he had to practice with borrowed ammo in the build-up to the Games.
Coach Sunny Thomas, who also returned today with the shooting team which won a record 14 medals in all, said efforts had been made to bring back Gouczol but Government rules were proving a hindrance.
"There is a problem to get Tibor for shooters. We have tried to get Tibor but there are reasons for his unavailability. Government rules do not allow it because he is above 70 years of age," Thomas said.
Asked if Gyorik would be retained after Rana's allegation of bias against him, Thomas replied in affirmative.
"We will definitely retain him even if Rana does not want him because other shooters are dependent on him," he said.
"But Tibor is coming to India for a coaching course in the third week of January. We will try to talk to him again. Rana can hire him as his personal coach and in the process other shooters can also get guidance from him."
