TOKYO
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. Post-mortems 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.
India’s teams of Elavenil Valarivan/Divyansh Singh Panwar and Deepak Kumar/Anjum Moudgil failed to make the Qualification stage 2 in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event here at the Asaka Shooting—10m Range on Tuesday.
While Elavenil/Divyansh registered a total score of 626.5, finishing in the 12th spot in the Qualification stage 1, Deepak/Anjum had the same fate as they also failed to qualify after finishing at the 18th spot with a total score of 623.8. In series 1, Elavenil shot 105 while Divyansh registered a score of 103.6, but it was not enough to hand them a place within the top eight. Elavenil and Divyansh shot 104 and 104.1 in the second series, but they were trailing by the time the third series came, and in the end, they missed out on qualification.
Deepak and Anjum also had an underwhelming performance in series 1 and they were also trailing and their qualification for stage 2 looked difficult. In the end, Deepak and Anjum also failed to qualify for the next stage, and India’s disappointing show in the shooting event continued.