Exit of top coaches leaves shooters jittery

Less than two months before the World Championships in Baku where 48 quota places for next year's Paris Olympics will be on offer, Indian shooting has been hit with the resignation of three high-profile coaches. While shotgun high-performance manager Lauryn Mark and foreign trap coach Russell Mark mailed their resignation on May 28, chief national rifle coach Joydeep Karmakar quit on June 10. All three coaches have alleged lack of communication from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) while the re-negotiation of Lauryn's remuneration was an additional sticking point in the case of the Australian couple.

The three coaches have also had differences with High Performance Director Pierre Beauchamp with Karmakar alleging the Canadian "pushed and shoved" and verbally abused him during last year's World Championships in Cairo. "He even used the F word while manhandling me. Such behaviour is unbecoming of a man of his position. I did not retaliate because I didn't want to bring disrepute to India on foreign land. The entire incident happened in front of senior NRAI officials," Karmakar said. The 43-year-old, who was drafted in as national coach last year on a three-year contract that was up for renewal each year, termed the NRAI environment "toxic and unbearable."

"It was getting increasingly impossible to work in that culture. I wrote to NRAI on April 19 saying I will resign gracefully if instructed. But I never got a response. There were a few reminders too, and in one mail I even wrote about the issues I was facing, but NRAI never responded. Hence, on June 10, I put an end to my services assuming my contract has been ended," Karmakar said. "It would have been nice if someone could have written to me. It is not right to humiliate coaches in such a manner," he added.

Reacting to the developments, acting NRAI president Kalikiesh Singh Deo said, "Coaches are bound to come and go. I don't think the exit of these coaches will have a great bearing on our performances. Our goal is to get more than 15 quota places for Paris and win a medal there."

As part of the high-performance programme initiated by Beauchamp, the shooters are required to fill a Google form carrying multiple choice questions on mood state, stress level, sleep pattern, among others. HT has a copy of the questionnaire.

"The HPD has no experience in shooting. The questionnaire that shooters need to fill out solves no real purpose. It is an outdated method and its findings are never shared with coaches or athletes. So, there were bound to be trust issues," said Russell, a two-time Olympic medallist including a double trap gold in Atlanta in 1996.

When senior skeet shooter Maheshwari Chauhan wrote to NRAI expressing her "disappointment" over Russell and Lauryn's exit, the federation served her a show cause notice. "It was a clear attempt to make an example out of her. Young shooters are intimidated and scared. They have been conveyed to stick to shooting and not talk about other issues," a senior NRAI official who did not wish to be named said. HT contacted over a dozen shotgun shooters for a comment, but only a handful agreed to talk, none wishing to be quoted.

Another shotgun veteran opined that the exit of foreign coaches will be a grave setback to the younger lot. "Senior shooters are experienced enough to deal with these things and some also have personal coaches. But it is the young lot that will suffer the most. The worst part is, there are not many good foreign coaches left the market with less than a year to go to the Olympics," a shooter, who did not wish to be named, said.

India have so far earned three quota places for Paris — via Bhowneesh Mendiratta (trap), Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil (10m rifle), and Swapnil Kusale (50m 3P).

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