Post-mortem exposes shooters

Even as the National Rifle Association of India is recovering from the shock of Indian shooters8217; poor performance...

Even as the National Rifle Association of India NRAI is recovering from the shock of Indian shooters8217; poor performance in the recent Asian championships in Kuwait, the national coach, Sunny Thomas, has come out with his post-mortem report.

Since the day he arrived in New Delhi from Kuwait, Thomas had been sitting with his laptop feeding the entire data available with him and studying the pros and cons of the shooters. The final verdict is: top Indian shooters haven8217;t learnt to handle big-event pressure yet! Incidentally, this was the first time in two decades that Indian shotgun shooters had failed miserably in an Asian meet.

Though Thomas is squarely putting the blame on the shooters for their poor show, the national coach, as one would expect, seemed happy with the number of medals 8212; 29 to 18 last time. But this was definitely not in tune with what he had expected when the team left for Kuwait a few weeks ago. His emphasis then was more on quota places.

The chief coach had pinned his hopes on double trap shooter Ronjon Sodhi, pistol shooter Harveen Srao and Sushma Rana. 8220;Quite a few times Srao had achieved 388 in international competitions. But she misfired in Kuwait. It was so disappointing. So did Ronjon and Sushma,8221; he said.

After their bitter Kuwait lessons, the coach wants those shooters who have booked tickets to Beijing to stay focused. 8220;Now it is up to these shooters to click in Beijing. Towards that end, their preparations have to be sharp and I will insist on this,8221; he said.

After their participation in the upcoming nationals in Ahmedabad, the Olympic hopefuls will go for a few training-cum-competitions in Europe in January. The European tour will be followed by an exposure trip Down Under.

However, the shooters will skip the first World Cup in Brazil in 2008, but will compete in the other three in China, Germany and Italy. 8220;The China event will be held at the same ranges where the Olympic events will be held. It will help our shooters have a feel of the ranges,8221; he said.

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For the record, India did improve its medal tally in the Asian meet. But performance-wise it was below par for them. Last time, they had won 10 gold medals while in Kuwait they managed a mere six.

Similarly, the performance also poured cold water in the NRAI hopes as India failed to swell their quota berths in Beijing.