Repose faith in our former shooters as coaches
While the country is celebrating the exploits of shooters like Manu Bhaker, Mehuli Ghosh, Shahzar Rizvi and Akhil Sheoran, we must remember that their success is because of individual effort. They have come up with limited resources, that too in a system which, at times, can demoralise an athlete.
In their moment of glory, there will be organisations, and individuals, who will take credit for their achievements, ignoring the contribution of their personal coaches, who’re behind their success, and also the hardships faced in procuring equipment.
The government hasn’t done enough to tweak import rules to make shooting easy for youngsters. Even the air rifles and air pistols, the ones used by Manu, Mehuli and Shahzar, attract 18% GST when imported by registered shooters of rifle clubs. This makes the already expensive equipment even more costly. A .22 rifle is used in three positions in which Akhil won gold. Such a rifle can only be imported by a national-level shooter, but no one tells youngsters how to reach the Nationals without a rifle.
The powers that be can help youngsters with top-class coaching and support staff. I have seen in the past big Indian contingents accompanied by so-called coaches travelling to World Cups and returning empty-handed. Those coaches were more like managers, and, for them foreign trips were paid holidays.
At one such World Cup where I competed, the manager did not turn up on the official training day. There was a time when shooters were dependent on foreign coaches as no one in the country had the technical knowledge. But times have changed and we have enough knowledge and experience, thanks to a whole generation of shooters who have shot at the world level and now turned mentors and coaches.
It’s time we do away with foreign coaches. Foreign coaches only like to work with a few shooters who are already at the top. They seek instant results and fat cheques from the sports ministry. They do not want to waste time coaching the next level. If someone needs their services, they have to shell out lakhs to train under them at foreign locations.
It’s become a business where a foreign coach hired by the ministry returns to his country while still under contract and charges exorbitant sums for rendering his services. Our former shooters are willing to walk that extra mile to see India becomes the No 1 shooting nation. It is time to say good bye to foreign businessmen masquerading as coaches.
Coming back to the Mexico World Cup, it turned out to be India’s best outing till date as the country, for the very first time, ended on top of the medals tally. Debutants Manu, Shahzar, Mehuli and Akhil made it even more special with record-breaking performances.
Manu won two gold in women’s air pistol (individual and mixed team), Mehuli bagged two bronze (individual and mixed team), Shahzar won gold in men’s air pistol while Akhil won gold in men’s rifle three positions.
This new breed of shooters is very young and it doesn’t care about the credentials of senior competitors. Manu (16) and Mehuli’s (17) combined age of 33 is less than the age of Alejandra Zavala Vazquez of Mexico who finished second behind Manu. Alejandra is a multiple World Cup medallist and has been shooting since 1998, four years before Manu was born.
What sets Manu and the likes apart in Indian shooting is that none, including Olympic medallists, have won a medal on World Cup debut. Abhinav Bindra was also 16-years-old when he first shot at a World Cup in 1999, but he was nowhere close to the podium. He won two World Cup bronze later in his career. Of course, his gold at the 2006 World Championships and 2008 Olympics are unmatched. Gagan Narang made his World Cup debut as a 19-yearold in 2003 and he too was not good enough for a podium finish.