Internet Desk: Last week, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announced the setting up of a special committee, to be chaired by Abhinav Bindra, to review shooters’ below-par performance at the Games. That process has begun but the committee’s mandate suggests the federation is looking for a more centralised structure with greater powers vested within itself.
Among the issues that the NRAI is keen to have the panel investigate are shooters hiring personal coaches, the selection of shooters for multiple Olympics on reputation rather than form and the role of private non-profits like the now-defunct Mittal Champions Trust, Olympic Gold Quest, Lakshya Foundation, Anglian Medal Hunt and Go Sports – who liase between athlete, federation and sports ministry.
The NRAI also wants to debate the practice of family members working with shooters as coaches and accompanying them for competitions overseas under the scanner. NRAI chief Raninder Singh told ESPN that one of the prime reasons for the shooters’ failure to win medals could be allowing them to train with personal coaches – a decision he called a “tactical blunder”.