‘A guiding angel’, new rules and selection policy: NRAI president on learnings

For Raninder Singh, the Tokyo debacle was the tipping point. As the painful memories of Rio came gushing back to him on that fateful day in July two years ago, the president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) made a clean breast of his feelings to journalists at the Asaka Shooting Range.

“At the end of the day, the only thing I can say is I cannot excuse non-performance. We are going to see an overhaul of the Indian coaching staff for sure,” he had said in a fit of rage moments after Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhury’s surprise ouster from the 10m air pistol mixed team event.

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The 10m events, then, were considered India’s best bets for medals. Raninder, high on emotions, had momentarily forgotten that Indians were yet to take to the lanes in 25m pistol and 50m rifle 3 positions events. Anyway, the 15-member side returned empty-handed after all.

The promised overhaul came. And went away as swiftly as it had come. It took the NRAI only four months to reinstate almost all of the sacked coaches. “We realised the technical aspect is fine – the training, coaching and all of that. What is much more important for our athletes is that now we have a very strong group, which is deeply involved with our athletes,” Raninder tells  Sportstar on the sidelines of the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Bhopal.

And this is precisely where Dr. Pierre Beauchamp, a former McGill University varsity hockey player and coach, comes in. In Beauchamp, Raninder is convinced to have found the guiding angel. Now the high-performance director of the Indian shooting team, Beauchamp commands whole teams, each specialised in a different discipline of the sport, namely pistol, rifle and shotgun.

Raninder says, “In Tokyo, we had 15 athletes and about nine of them had been number ones and twos of the world. They were right up there. And then they suddenly crashed. It was all very clear. The mental capability to weather extreme pressure wasn’t there. The Olympics are a different ball game. Our kids have done so well.  Wahi pistol, wahi target… (It was the same pistol and the same target) I didn’t get it.

“We used to rely on TOPS’ (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) mental training earlier. But we’ve now made it mandatory. We are focusing on the heads (sic). And very acutely. It’s a very scientific thing. I didn’t realise it at first. I thought they are like psychologists; they sit down and talk to people. But no. You get bio-feedback. They go into all kinds of things and it’s an eye-opener, the whole system. I am seeing this for the first time. The full high-performance team has specified roles, focused aspects to it. But those things are what are going to bring about change. As far as talent is concerned, we are still there at the highest level.”

Incidentally, under Beauchamp’s directive, the shooters are now…