NEW DELHI: Jaspal Rana‘s influential role in Manu Bhaker‘s transformation into a double Olympic medallist has led the national shooting federation to consider bringing the Dronacharya Award-winning coach back.
Rana, who has his unique coaching methods, had differences with the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) leadership, but the issues have now been resolved.
His successful stint as Manu’s personal coach is paving the way for his potential return to a prominent position in Indian shooting, possibly as a high-performance director or national pistol coach.
Rana played a crucial part as the junior national pistol coach, guiding Bhaker and other young shooters.
Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, NRAI’s senior vice president, acknowledged Rana’s contributions, emphasizing that his work has never been ignored and expressing plans for future teamwork.
“Jaspal has been a personal coach to Manu and he has made a fabulous contribution. I don’t think we have ever ignored Jaspal’s contributions.
“There were some issues earlier, obviously they have been resolved, he has been working with Manu for the last so many months, and this has been with the consent and approval of the NRAI,” news agency PTI quoted Singh Deo as saying.
“So it’s going to be a team work, we will talk about how to take things forward,” the top federation official added.
Rana, without a stable job for three years, has received accolades after Bhaker’s historic bronze in the 10m air pistol competition at the Paris Olympics, where she became India’s first woman shooter to win an Olympic medal.
Bhaker further made history by teaming with Sarabjot Singh to win bronze in the air pistol mixed team event, becoming the first athlete in Independent India to win two medals in a single Olympic edition.
She narrowly missed a third medal in the 25m pistol event in a dramatic shoot-off for bronze.
Additionally, Swapnil Kusale secured a medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions event, a historic first for India, helping the country overcome past disappointments from Rio and Tokyo.
“We have had three medals, unprecedented so far, we have had another four finalists, that means a total of seven finalists, total number of 22 quotas, largest ever Indian contingent 21 members participating, and we missed by four medals by a whisker.
“For the first time we came to the final of the shotgun mixed team skeet event on a fabulous day, in a fabulous event,” Singh Deo said, summing up the performance.
Two days after Raninder and Rana said the young shooters are not benefitting from the Khelo India project, Singh Deo said they will try to hold discussions with the government regarding the junior program.
The NRAI’s junior program had to be scrapped to make way for the central government-run Khelo India Games.
“Junior program is very much on the agenda, we need to take up with the government. All the shooters here are products of the junior program and we need to work with the government to ensure that we have the correct participation in junior program,” Singh De said.
Speaking on the gradual rise of Asian shooters in skeet events, historically a domain of the Italians and Americans, he said, “This bronze medal match was between India and China and we missed it by one bird. It’s been a fabulous contest, I think you can’t ignore Asia for any kind of shooting irrespective of whether it’s rifle, pistol or shotgun.”
Asked about the plans for the near future, he said, “We have to do a review of what has worked for us, we also need to understand what we need to do better. All these discussions, contact review and all will happen after review.”
Rana, who has his unique coaching methods, had differences with the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) leadership, but the issues have now been resolved.
His successful stint as Manu’s personal coach is paving the way for his potential return to a prominent position in Indian shooting, possibly as a high-performance director or national pistol coach.
Rana played a crucial part as the junior national pistol coach, guiding Bhaker and other young shooters.
Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, NRAI’s senior vice president, acknowledged Rana’s contributions, emphasizing that his work has never been ignored and expressing plans for future teamwork.
“Jaspal has been a personal coach to Manu and he has made a fabulous contribution. I don’t think we have ever ignored Jaspal’s contributions.
“There were some issues earlier, obviously they have been resolved, he has been working with Manu for the last so many months, and this has been with the consent and approval of the NRAI,” news agency PTI quoted Singh Deo as saying.
“So it’s going to be a team work, we will talk about how to take things forward,” the top federation official added.
Rana, without a stable job for three years, has received accolades after Bhaker’s historic bronze in the 10m air pistol competition at the Paris Olympics, where she became India’s first woman shooter to win an Olympic medal.
Bhaker further made history by teaming with Sarabjot Singh to win bronze in the air pistol mixed team event, becoming the first athlete in Independent India to win two medals in a single Olympic edition.
She narrowly missed a third medal in the 25m pistol event in a dramatic shoot-off for bronze.
Additionally, Swapnil Kusale secured a medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions event, a historic first for India, helping the country overcome past disappointments from Rio and Tokyo.
“We have had three medals, unprecedented so far, we have had another four finalists, that means a total of seven finalists, total number of 22 quotas, largest ever Indian contingent 21 members participating, and we missed by four medals by a whisker.
“For the first time we came to the final of the shotgun mixed team skeet event on a fabulous day, in a fabulous event,” Singh Deo said, summing up the performance.
Two days after Raninder and Rana said the young shooters are not benefitting from the Khelo India project, Singh Deo said they will try to hold discussions with the government regarding the junior program.
The NRAI’s junior program had to be scrapped to make way for the central government-run Khelo India Games.
“Junior program is very much on the agenda, we need to take up with the government. All the shooters here are products of the junior program and we need to work with the government to ensure that we have the correct participation in junior program,” Singh De said.
Speaking on the gradual rise of Asian shooters in skeet events, historically a domain of the Italians and Americans, he said, “This bronze medal match was between India and China and we missed it by one bird. It’s been a fabulous contest, I think you can’t ignore Asia for any kind of shooting irrespective of whether it’s rifle, pistol or shotgun.”
Asked about the plans for the near future, he said, “We have to do a review of what has worked for us, we also need to understand what we need to do better. All these discussions, contact review and all will happen after review.”
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