Premium

Jaspal Rana, Deepali Deshpande return to national coaching setup

Jaspal Rana (Pistol) and Deepali Deshpande (Rifle) returned to the national shooting coaching setup, NRAI announced on Saturday.

Deepali Deshpande, Jaspal Rana Shooting coach

Deepali Despande (L) and Jaspal Rana (R) return to the national coaching setup, confirmed NRAI. (Credits: CBC/Twitter & Express Photo)

Dronacharya Awardee coach Deepali Deshpande and Manu Bhaker’s coach Jaspal Rana returned to the national shooting coaching setup, announced NRAI on Saturday.

In the recently held governing body meeting of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the body decided to appoint Deepali Deshpande as the head coach of Rifle and Jaspal Rana as the High-performance coach of 25m pistol.

Deepali’s student Swapnil Kusale won the bronze medal in the 50m rifle three positions at the 2024 Paris Olympics, while Jaspal guided Manu Bhaker to two bronze medals in the 10m air pistol event at the quadrennial event.

India won a total of three medals at the 2024 Paris, with two coming in individual events: Swapnil (50m 3P) and Manu (10m air Pistol), while the third medal came in a 10m air pistol team event where Manu paired up with Sarabjot Singh.

In all, a total of 16 new members were appointed to the coaching team, with 19 being retained, including one coordinator (Amar Jung Singh) and two coaches (Priti Sharma and Anuja Jung) for Deaf Shooters.

Among other appointed coaches are many former players, including the likes of 10m air pistol ace Jitu Rai (Padma Shri and Khel Ratna recipient), Pemba Tamang (25m pistol), Varsha Tomar (Trap), Amarinder Cheema (Skeet), and Pooja Ghatkar (10m Air rifle).

Ronak Pandit and Mansher Singh have been appointed as the High-Performance managers for the disciplines of Pistol and Shotgun, respectively.

Story continues below this ad

Besides Jaspal, others who have been appointed High-Performance Coaches include D.S. Chandel (Air Rifle), Anwer Sultan (Trap) and Manoj Kumar (50m Rifle).

The seasoned Vikram Chopra (Shotgun) and Samaresh Jung (Pistol) have also been retained and will form a troika of Head Coaches alongside Deepali.

Elena Norman returns to India

Former Hockey India CEO Elena Norman has returned to India and has been appointed as the consultant for the upcoming Shooting League of India (SLI) by NRAI.

New Horizons Alliance will act as the official Commercial and Marketing Agency for the inaugural league.