E-Paper
Foreign coach blamed for Jitu’s Olympics failure
NEW DELHI: Lack of coordination between pistol shooter Jitu Rai — one of the favourites to win an Olympic medal at Rio de Janeiro — and foreign coach Pavel Smirnov
NEW DELHI: Lack of coordination between pistol shooter Jitu Rai — one of the favourites to win an Olympic medal at Rio de Janeiro — and foreign coach Pavel Smirnov was one of the major reasons the army marksman missed the podium at the quadrennial games.
The four-member panel, constituted by the National Rifle Association of India to review the poor performance of Indian shooters at Rio, in its 36-page report has mentioned that the foreign coach was not well-versed with precision (shooting) events, which is why Jitu couldn’t deliver the goods at the Games.
“Due to lack of proper planning, talented shooters like Jitu Rai failed to win medal for the country,” the panel said in its report made public on Wednesday.
Besides, Smirnov also didn’t guide pistol shooter Prakash Nanjappa, which is why he also failed to make an impression at the Olympics Games, raising serious questions over the Russian’s appointment as national coach.
In the case of London Games bronze-medallist, rifle shooter Gagan Narang, injury and being overweight were the reasons attributed for his unimpressive performance. “The federation should have acted in a more professional way to address Narang’s lack of form as he wasn’t fit to compete in all the three rifle events,” averred the review committee headed by Beijing Olympic Games gold medallist Abhinav Bindra.
The report also pointed out that the federation needs to make drastic changes in its selection policy and thoroughly prepare the national squad for major international events like the Olympics.
After winning two medals at 2012 London Games, the 12-member shooting squad failed to deliver the goods at Rio, prompting the federation to appoint a panel to pinpoint the deficiencies.
“The preparation wasn’t satisfactory in most cases. However, the federations took things for granted that medals would pour in as shooters have established themselves in previous Olympics,” the panel said in its report.
The committee members, who spoke to all the shooters and coaching staff associated with the team, concluded that due to lack of good governance, the federation, it seems, was running on an ad-hoc basis, because of which shooters missed the podium.
Bindra said the observations of the committee were not to put blame on any individual but to find a solution to improve performance. “There should be changes in the coaching staff, and national camps should be conducted on professional lines,” he added.
The federation chief Raninder Singh said he accepted all the recommendations except one. While the panel has recommended that no international events be conducted in India, Singh said this was not acceptable. “We need to hold international events in the country. However, we pledge to implement the recommendations for good results. The federation will also set a deadline to make changes in the existing system,” he added.
