Tokyo [Japan]: National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) President Raninder Singh Sodhi on Tuesday said he is deliberating on overhauling the coaching staff as shooters have not been able to perform on expected lines at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. “Yes, definitely the performances have not been on expected lines and I have spoken of an overhaul of the coaching staff as I feel something is lacking in getting our shooters prepared for these big occasions because clearly the talent is there and we have seen it here as well,” Raninder told ANI.
“Let’s continue to back the team and I am sure we’ll get results. Postmortems can wait till after the Games,” he added.
Heading into the Olympics, it was the shooting contingent that was favourite to bring back medals for India. However, the going has been disappointing, to say the least.
Pair of Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker failed to qualify for the medal match in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event after finishing the Qualification stage 2 at the seventh spot here at the Asaka Shooting — 10m Range on Tuesday.
Chaudhary and Bhaker shot a total of 380 in Qualification stage 2 and hence they bowed out of the Olympics in the mixed event.
Saurabh and Manu Bhaker had progressed to Qualification stage 2 of the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event after registering a total score of 582 in Qualification stage 1.
Earlier, ace shooters Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar failed to qualify for the medal round in the men’s 10m Air Rifle Qualification. Both Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela failed to qualify for the medal round after finishing 16th and 36th respectively in the women’s 10m Air Rifle Qualification. Saurabh had failed to rise to the challenge in the finals of the men’s 10m Air Rifle event as he finished seventh. Both Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Singh Deswal had failed to qualify for the medal round after finishing 12th and 13th respectively in the women’s 10m Air Pistol Qualification. (ANI)