NRAI, shotgun coaches differ on Olympics selection policy
Vinayak Padmadeo
New Delhi, August 24
The new selection policy for the 2024 Paris Olympics devised by the shotgun team’s High Performance Director and the trap coach has opened up differences between the Australian husband-wife duo and the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
High Performance Director Lauryn Mark and trap coach Russell Mark have come up with two sets of selection policies — one for 2023 and another for the 2024 Olympics. Discussions have been going on for over a month between the coaches, the technical committee and the NRAI executive board led by senior vice-president Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo. While the 2023 policy has been all but cleared, the Olympics policy has come in for some criticism from within the coaching set-up and is set to be revised.
The Australian duo has recommended that the scores for the Olympics selection should start from the 2023 National Championships and the bonus points should only be awarded from 2023. At least one coach has objected to this point, asserting that since the Olympics quotas will be awarded from the 2022 World Championships onwards, the policy is wrong in not taking the scores from the said tournament.
The other major sticking point is that the 2024 policy suggests holding selection trials over two stages. Stage 1 would include scores from the 2023 National Championships along with two trials in January to select the team till June. Stage 2 would entail holding two trials in June to select the team for the next six months.
Critics of this suggestion have asserted that it would be wrong to select the team in 2023. They also said that not awarding bonus points to the prospective quota winners from the World Championships would be wrong.
Sources said that the Marks have been told that the Olympics policy will have to be redone to accommodate some of these issues. This has irked the duo, which thinks that tinkering with the policy would mean selecting an average team. The Marks have asked the NRAI to not change the policy.
Decision soon
Deo said that the Olympics policy will be finalised soon. “There is no impasse. We are in the middle of a discussion to finalise all selection and Olympics policies. The NRAI will take a decision soon,” Deo told The Tribune.
While Deo is downplaying the tiff, it is not the first time that differences have cropped up between the Marks and the officials. Russell had reservations about his contract as the Australian wanted it to be drawn in the name of his firm. Also, earlier this month, he blamed the authorities for not booking the tickets to Slovenia, where the team is to train ahead for the World Championships, on time.
