Jaspal Rana to return as India shooting coach?

Jaspal Rana's contribution towards Manu Bhaker's remarkable transformation into a double Olympics medallist will not go unnoticed. The national shooting federation is mulling bringing the Dronacharya awardee coach back into its fold.

Rana, who has his own way of working with the shooters, and those heading the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) haven’t been on the same wavelength over the years.

But now, old "issues have been resolved", says Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, who is heading the NRAI since former president Raninder Singh quit the post under the sports code.

After his hugely successful second stint as Bhaker’s personal coach, Rana could get a job in the Indian shooting setup next. Three years after a fallout between the two, there are now talks that he could be made a high-performance director or national pistol coach.

The legendary shooter had earlier served as junior national pistol coach, overseeing the progress of the likes of Bhaker and many other young shooters.

"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," said Singh Deo, the senior vice-president of the NRAI.

"So it's going to be a team work; we will talk about how to take things forward," he added.

Rana, who has recently revealed that he is without a stable job for the last three years, has been showered with accolades since Bhaker began her campaign in Paris with a historic bronze in the 10m Air Pistol competition. That made her India's first woman shooter to win a medal at the Olympics.

The 22-year-old then combined with Sarabjot Singh to shoot a bronze in the Air Pistol Mixed Team event, which made her the first athlete in Independent India to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympics.

Manu then came close to winning an unprecedented third in the 25m pistol event, only to be denied in the shoot-off for bronze.

Meanwhile, Swapnil Kusale became the first Indian to win a medal in the gruelling 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the Games, as the country exorcised the ghosts of their forgettable, medal-less outings in the previous editions in Rio de Janeiro 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 it 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 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."

• THE OLYMPICS, 2024