On Tuesday morning, 27 July, fans and those part of the shooting fraternity in India were disappointed news as results did not go along the expected lines at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
One of India’s biggest gold medal hopes at the Tokyo Olympics, Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary’s mixed team pairing unfortunately followed what has become a pattern with Indian shooters in Tokyo – they were eliminated in the qualification round. The 19-year-olds have won five World Cup golds together and the duo has been a dominating force in the event for the last few years.
But another early exit is how their campaign finished along with Abhishek Verma & Yashaswini Singh Deswal, and the 10m Air Pistol mixed team pairs of Divyansh Singh Panwar & Elavenil Valarivan and Deepak Kumar & Anjum Moudgil. Eight Indian shooters could not make the cut in two different events on Tuesday.
The result prompted NRAI chief Raninder Singh to declare an overhaul of the coaching staff and has also left former shooters extremely disappointed.
Expected More in Mixed Team Events
Joydeep Karmakar, who was an Olympic finalist at the 2012 London Olympics and missed Bronze by a whisker, said that he expected a better show from the shooters in the mixed team event. He said he had hoped to see three pairs/teams progress to the medal rounds.
“This is a big jolt, but I will not lose heart yet as that does not agree with my principle. But I would say there might be some issues with their preparation. They were good and there’s no doubt about it. The individual events were tough and the expectations (for medals) wasn’t that much, but for the mixed events, for pistol at least, we did expect medals,” Karmakar told The Quint over phone.
And while there were immense expectations from the pistol team going into the Olympics, Karmakar nonetheless found it odd that the doors for selection of the air rifle team had been closed a year before in 2020.
“The scores were so close for the air rifle group shooters that closing the doors was not only harsh, but also not very smart because there was no way to judge the form. And if there was scope to field your athletes in 2021, why would you not take the opportunity to test the current form ahead of the Olympics,” he wondered, further adding that the problem of poor form wasn’t unknown, while also praising the transparency of the process of selection.
“In a such a strange situation due to the pandemic, the rules could have been tweaked to serve the purpose better. Every shooter qualified for Tokyo by virtue of their performances but then that was in 2019 and some in 2018. There should have been more emphasis on their current form.”
Were the Debutants Prepped for the Big Day?
The Indian contingent had four shooters who had previously been at Olympic Games and while almost all had registered good scores on their way to being picked for the flight to Tokyo, there were 11 debutants who hadn’t dealt with the kind of pressure that the biggest sporting stage brings. Incidentally, the Indian shooting team’s support staff in Tokyo did not comprise a psychologist, who would have been of help to the young shooters at critical times.
While explaining that shooting is unpredictable, an Arjuna Awardee Karmakar says that preparing mentally for the big stage is essential, because it’s different kettle of fish.
“If the coaching was all about not making a mistake on the day as a shooter and not dealing with the pressure as well, then I don’t think it was enough preparation for the Olympics. You need a lot of grit and mental power to win an Olympic medal,” Karmakar quipped, while adding that he wasn’t aware about some of the exact details due to the rules of the NRAI with regards to national camps in the build up to the Games.
What Happened to Manu Bhaker on Tuesday?
The veteran was all praise for the young Manu Bhaker, who came within a whisker of making it to the individual event final despite a major hindrance with her equipment in the qualifying rounds. When asked if that had an effect on Manu ahead of the mixed team event, Karmakar noted that the young ace was definitely off colour.
“She was not there and it was not related to the gun or equipment. Of course, we didn’t get to see visuals, but I could see the targets only and the way she was shooting it was clear she was not in form or maybe under pressure, because when she needed to get 10s, she got 8s – and that makes you or breaks you. So going by that it was visible that it was not her day. The gun malfunction was unfortunate. But today, she was not able to handle the pressure.”
“Manu has one more event to go and one hopes she will be able to refocus and come back strongly in the 25m event.”
What Next – Set Aside That Ego
Taking a bird’s-eye point of view on the road ahead for the Indian shooting team, Karmakar explains that it is time to introspect and go back to the drawing board quickly.
“I think the coaching staff needs to introspect and the admin needs to look at things strictly. I read that there were some issues with the coaches. Some had been sent back from Croatia and some joined late. There after some shock exclusion of coaches, these things were quite surprising.”
“There was chatter about Jaspal Rana and issues with the coach-shooter relationship. I don’t know what happened exactly and many other things were happening. I believe this could have been avoided. This is why the NRAI chief is unhappy... because there was a lot of freedom given to the coaches as well... for them to lead the team properly.”
“Something was not right. The NRAI tried honestly. I think there is enough reason for the chief to be annoyed.”
Karmakar further noted that another aspect that needed to be paid more attention to is the relation between a personal coach and the national team coach.
“There has to be communication between the two because the personal coach prepares the athlete from the beginning and then to suddenly forcefully change to the national coach (can be difficult)... It can happen in a sport like hockey. But shooting is a highly individual game," he said.
"There is a way of communication for the athlete and personal coach, you cannot severe that. But that doesn’t mean 15 personal coaches should go the Olympics. But when you are preparing, there should be a bridge between both sides. In India, the personal and national coaches mostly don’t share a good relation. The fighting cannot go on as the athlete suffers and at certain times rules and egos need to be put aside, to work together,” he added.
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