Shotgun contingent likely to miss foreign coaches at Asiad

New Delhi, September 15

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India’s two foreign coaches in shotgun, Italy’s Marcello Dradi and Ennio Falco, are unlikely to accompany the Indian shooting contingent to the Asian Games due to accreditation and contractual technicalities.

Trap coach Dradi and skeet expert Falco were appointed India’s shotgun coaches following the National Rifle Association of India’s (NRAI) fallout with Australia’s Russell and Lauryn Mark, who quit earlier this year.

Dradi will likely miss out as his contract with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) was signed after the long list of athletes and accompanying officials had already been finalised by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and sent to the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (HAGOC).

India trap coach Vikram Chopra will accompany the trap contingent while Jitender Beniwal will most likely accompany the skeet contingent, NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia said.

“Their (foreign coaches) contracts were signed after the long list of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had been finalised and sent to the Asian Games organisers (HAGOC). That is the reason they will likely miss out,” said Bhatia.

A source said that Dradi’s coaching contract with the Spanish team had not yet ended and he had “unofficially” started training the Indian team. The Italian expert is currently in India with the trap team preparing for the Asian Games and will probably fly back to Italy on Saturday.