NRAI meets new coaches, plans for future

New Delhi: With an eye on the future, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) today held an "internal" meeting with its six newly appointed coaches who were given a copy each of the federation`s master plan.

Three coaches each from senior and junior sections along with the NRAI`s top officials were present in the meeting here. "It was an internal administrative meeting in which we discussed the future course of action, how to go about it and all," said NRAI secretary Rajeev Bhatia, without divulging much into the details. "Since this is the first time that we have appointed different coaches for different events, we thought of having a meeting with them and also gave them each a copy of our plans," Bhatia added. A copy had already been sent to the Sports Authority of India (SAI), which, on the recommendations of NRAI, appointed the coaches for national squads under the annual calendar of training and competition scheme. While multiple Asian Games gold medallists Jaspal Rana was recently appointed coach of the junior pistol shooters, Randhir Singh will do duty with the senior rifle team, and Mohinder Lal will be with the senior pistol shooters. M Padmanavan has been named coach of the senior shotgun team, Deepali Deshpande of the junior rifle team, while P S Sodhi will take care of the junior shotgun shooters. NRAI president Raninder Singh has also nominated managers for international teams going abroad. They would accompany the teams participating in international competitions and would be facilitating the shooters for their participation in competitions. The Indian shooters` impressive outing at the London Olympics, where they won two medals, has prompted the NRAI to be pro-active, and a federation official has stated that they are already looking for ways to better the performance in the Rio Games in 2016. PTI