Legacy of shooting coaches Laszlo, Csaba continues

Young Saurabh Chaudhary, Apurvi Chandela and Manu Bhaker, amongothers, mayhave done the country proud at the recently concluded shooting World Cup but not many in the current generation would know that the seeds of success were sown decades ago by two Hungarian coaches, who, incidentally, were in town for the showpiece event at the K ar ni Sing hS hooting Ranges.It’s been a while since rifle coach Laszlo Szucsak and pistol expert Csaba Gyorik left India but their legacy lives on in the form of Indians shooters who were once their wards and are now training the young generation towards excellence.

Most of India’s current national coaches, including Samaresh Jung, Deep ali Deshpande andSumaShirur, amongothers, have trained with Laszlo and Csaba, while the likes of pistol ace HeenaSidhu, RahiSarnobatand rifle marksman Sanjeev Rajput, who are still going strong, have received guidance from them.

In fact, Olympic bronze medallist and multiple World Cup medal list Gag an Na ran go wes his success to Laszlo, while Beijing Olympics gold me dallis tAbh in av Bin draw as trained by the Hungarian in his initial years.

Csaba, who had a four year stint between 2004 and 2008, has been them an behind the success of Samaresh at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, who bagged five gold.

Laszlo had a knack for identifying talent. Some shooters selected by him for national camps made remarkable progress in a short span of time. He was not just a high-perform- ance coach but also an expert with rifle equipment.

He was often seen working like a carpenter at the ranges trying to make the perfect gun fit. He quit after the 2000 Olympic Games to train the Japanese team but his heart was with Indian shooters.

In 2004, he returned to help rifle shooters Bind ra and Na rang and many more achieve dizzy heights. Indians won medals everywhere, including the Olympic, world championships, world cups, breakingworld records on the way. Laszlo quit in 2009, unable to handle Indian red tape anymore, and joined the Iran shooting team.