Bindra-chaired panel questions NRAI role in Rio shooting flop show

The Rio Olympics shooting review committee, chaired by 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, on Wednesday questioned the federation's role in overall planning and its execution for the mega event.

The committee was set up by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to look into the dismal performance of the shooters at the 2016 Rio Olympics. It submitted its 36-page report on Wednesday on the quadrennial mega event, casting doubts on the federation's activities.

India sent as many as 12 shooters for the Games, all of whom returned without a medal.

NRAI President Raninder Singh constituted a committee to review the poor performance on August 25.

In its report, it was said NRAI hired incompetent national coaches, didn't hold national camps and also didn't have a monitoring system to gauge the physical readiness of the shooters competing at the Olympics.

"We suggested some course corrections to ensure that the sport is run in a more efficient manner, hope they are imbibed," Bindra said after the meeting on Wednesday.

"We merely put facts together, it was never our intention to find faults with a particular individual, NRAI or SAI," he added.

Among its many recommendations were the appointment of a High Performance Manager and the constitution of a credible panel of experts to appoint coaches.

The report also underlined the importance of a national coach and envisions a pre-eminent role for the national coach in the overall development of the shooting squad.

The review committee was chaired by Bindra alongwith sports administrator Manisha Malhotra and senior journalists Kamesh Srinivasan and Digvijay Singh Deo.

--IANS

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