Out of trap? India shotgun coaches Russell Mark, Lauryn Mark resign

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, May 26

In a big loss to the shotgun team, India’s foreign trap coach Russell Mark and skeet coach Lauryn Mark, who was also the high performance manager of the team, have resigned from their posts over delay in contract renewal.

Their resignations couldn’t have come at a worse time as the ISSF Shotgun World Cup Shotgun is underway in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Sources have confirmed that the husband-wife duo sent in a joint resignation letter after they were put off by the delay in contract negotiations and their long-standing disagreements with the high performance director Dr Pierre Beauchamp.

Their contracts had ended in March and negotiations were underway to extend it.

However, things came to a boil when Lauryn was asked to justify her role within the team and had to double up as the skeet coach without getting the due remuneration.

They had given a three-day notice to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to sort out the matter and after not getting a response, they were compelled to put in their papers.

NRAI’s acting president Kalikesh Singh Deo and secretary general K Sultan Singh were unavailable for comments despite repeated attempts.

It is understood that both Lauryn and Mark will end their association with the Indian team this Sunday.

In the letter, Russell termed Beauchamp’s plans impractical. Calling it a waste of time, Russell said the high performance programme led by Dr Beauchamp was a “useless data collecting programme”.

Under Lauryn, the skeet team has won three medals at the last two World Cups. Ganemat Sekhon and Darshna Rathore won silver and bronze in the ongoing Shotgun World Cup. Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Ganemat won the mixed team gold at the Cairo World Cup in April.

They are not the only foreign coaches to have clashed with the high performance director. Foreign coach of the pistol team Munkhbayar Dorjsuren had complained against the HPD for his high-handedness.