Foreign coaches irked by meddling personal coaches
NEW DELHI : Too many cooks spoil the broth. The proverb aptly describes the current situation in Indian shooting where the national shooters are embroiled in a peculiar situation of being surrounded by too many coaches.
In the aftermath of India’s disappointing performance at the ISSF World Cup here where home shooters won only one of the 12 Tokyo Olympic Games quota places on offer, the foreign coaches are peeved at the interference of personal coaches and want the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to come out with a policy regarding the matter. Rifle coach Oleg Mikhailov said the trend was disturbing.
“Once a shooter is in the national camp, he or she is my responsibility. I have been appointed by SAI (Sports Authority of India) and NRAI and I am answerable for their performance. If I feel the use of a personal coach will help the shooter, I will definitely contact them. But it has to be my call,” Oleg said.
“India is going through the same problem that big teams in the world face. There are too many coaches around.
There has to be a clear line drawn and I am sure NRAI will look into it. Since the tournament was in India, you could see so many coaches around. It is disturbing,” said the Ukrainian who has been coaching the rifle team since 2017.
It is learnt that Oleg had sent a mail to the shooters after the World Championships warning them about personal coaches during camps and international tournaments.
Oleg also had a showdown with Joydeep Karmakar, coach of rifle shooter Mehuli Ghosh, during the tournament. “Appalled to hear that the Foreign Rifle coach of India Mr Oleg, who was absent for last 4 months, asking @Ghoshmehuli to get rid of her personal coach. That too while she is preparing for her official training in World Cup! #Shame #Shocking,” Karmakar had tweeted on Friday.
When contacted, Joydeep said he has every right to sit in the spectators’ gallery and he would take up the matter with the federation.
On the first day of the World Cup, India’s pistol coach Pavel Smirnov was furious over the presence of Abhishek Verma’s personal coach Omender Singh during the qualification of men’s 10m air pistol event.
“When the shooters are in the national camp or competing, it is my territory. I don’t put my nose into your work and you don’t put your nose in mine. We are three coaches in the senior camp (Samresh Jung and Ved Prakash are the others) and it is our responsibility to look after the shooters,” he added.
Former shooter Jaspal Rana, who is associated with the junior programme and had mentored Manu Bhaker, was miffed at being left out of the camp before the World Cup even as some shooters got permission to have their own coaches in the camp.
Jaspal, who stayed away from the camp, was there to see Bhaker’s competition on Tuesday and he too felt that there should be a policy charted out.
“Obviously the shooters will be confused. They won’t know whom to follow. And shooters cannot ask for the presence of his or her coach. It is the job of the NRAI to see what is best for them at the moment and then decide.”
When contacted Rajiv Bhatia, secretary NRAI said, the federation will review the situation before taking a call.
“We would certainly look into these issues after the World Cup,” he added.