News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

This article was first published 7 years ago
Rediff.com  » Sports » Bindra may head panel to review India's shooting debacle at Rio Olympics

Bindra may head panel to review India's shooting debacle at Rio Olympics

Source: PTI
Last updated on: August 24, 2016 18:39 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

Heena Sidhu

IMAGE: Heena Sidhu reacts during the qualifying round of the 50m shooting qualifying event at the Rio Olympics. Photograph: PTI

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has come up with a proposal to set up a special committee, to be headed by Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, to carry out a comprehensive review of the shooters' below-par performance at the Rio Games.

Indian shooters proved to be an epic failure in a disastrous Rio Olympic Games as the 12-member team, with the exception of Bindra, failed miserably to live up to the sky-high expectations.

This has left the country's shooting fraternity highly disappointed.

"NRAI is to shortly announce the formation of an independent committee to analyse the performance of the Indian shooting team at the Rio Olympics and fix accountability of for the same subsequently," a top official of the federation told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The panel will also be expected to recommend to NRAI measures to prevent a recurrence.

The likes of Heena Sidhu, Manavjeet Singh Sandhu, Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela, among others, left the country thoroughly disappointed after they were unable to put on an impressive show.

The NRAI was expected to introspect and dissect the reasons for this huge let-down from the shooting contingent.

IMAGE: India's Abhinav Bindra. Photograph: Getty Images

After fetching medals at each of the last three Games, India's largest-ever shooting contingent returned empty-handed.

The issue of shooters hiring personal coaches, the selection of shooters for multiple Olympics on reputation rather than form and the role of private non-profits like Olympic Gold Quest, Lakshya Foundation, Anglian Medal Hunt and Go Sports are issues likely to be investigated by the panel.

Sources said the NRAI is keen to have the panel recommend that all shooting activity be centralised under the federation's control. Besides Bindra, the committee is likely to comprise NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia, former national tennis champion Manisha Malhotra, and two journalists.

Right after the Indian shooters' campaign in Rio, NRAI President Raninder Singh had taken upon himself the blame for the dismal outing, saying it was a mistake on his part to allow the athletes to train with personal coaches.

"We have made a tactical blunder in allowing personal coaches on their own. We will introspect this in future," Raninder had said.

In what was the only bright spot for Indian shooting team in Rio, Beijing Olympics gold medallist Bindra's finished a creditable fourth as he missed a medal by a whisker in a tense shoot-off in the men's 10m air rifle event.

Get Rediff News in your Inbox:
Source: PTI© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 2024

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 2024