My biggest concern is losing talented junior shooters: Jaspal Rana

The juniors coach wants Bhaker, Chaudhary and others to focus on 2020 Olympics

Jaspal-Rana-ap (File) Jaspal Rana poses for the media after winning gold in the 2006 Commonwealth Games men's centre fire pistol pairs event in Melbourne | AP

The Indian shooting juggernaut keeps rolling. The junior shooters who stole the thunder from their more experienced seniors over the last year or two hogged the headlines once again during the ongoing Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. India fielded four shooters and all hit the bull's eye, winning two gold and two silver medals. While rifle shooters Tushar Mane and Mehuli Ghosh won silver, pistol shooters Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary clinched gold. Bhaker had missed out on a medal at the Asian Games despite qualifying with a top score but put aside that disappointment to win India's first ever gold medal at Youth Olympic Games.

On the other hand, 16-year-old Asian Games gold medallist Chaudhary continued his top performance in Youth Olympic Games to finish way ahead of the rest of the field.

The man behind the success of the junior shooting programme of the National Rifle Association of India is the legendary Jaspal Rana. A tough taskmaster, he, along with former Olympian and world record holder in 10m air rifle Suma Shirur, have quietly worked with talented bunch of youngsters and honed them into potential international champions. Not an easy man to please, Rana was satisfied with the results at the Youth Olympic Games but said that he would like to persevere with the lost talent, too.

Speaking to THE WEEK from Buenos Aires, the former champion spoke in detail about the teen stars being ready for sterner tests and shared plans for his talented wards. Excerpts:

With youngsters like Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker already performing in senior competitions like Asian Games, what exactly is the significance of winning medals in the ongoing Youth Olympic Games?

The shooters have been trained where it makes no difference whether it is a big or small competition. They have to perform with decent scores—all the junior shooters are trained like that, be it national trials or Asian Games. When your policy has parameters where scores decide representation in senior team, then the differentiation between senior and junior fades. The shooters are shooting outstanding scores and so, there is no competition big or small.

The idea behind participation in Youth Olympic Games was that shooters should remain in competitive mode. The reason I wanted these shooters to shoot in junior category in world championships was that it would be easy to maintain performance—you get optimum results when the vehicle is on the move. These shooters are no doubt talented but they will face ups and downs vis-a-vis results.

But shooters like Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary have delivered enough in junior category. Isn't it time for them to move completely to senior category?

Yes, now I want them to shoot in senior category. Focus should be on the Asian Championships in 2019 which will have maximum quotas for Tokyo 2020. Now is the time to prepare them for that. The Asian circuit is the toughest and number one in the world with China, Japan, Korea all there. According to me, they should not be competing in junior category anymore. It is not good to have your shooters winning 8-9 points ahead of the rest of the field. It is important for Manu and others to get out of the comfort zone now.

What did the shooters gain from the Youth Olympic Games then?

The competition wasn't so easy; it was intense. This is once-in-a-lifetime experience for those in 15-19 years category.

What did you tell Manu Bhaker on approaching this competition, after the disappointment of missing out on Asian Games medal?

Manu was at her peak in Asian Games. Having shot 593 in qualification, a medal was expected of her. In finals, you always start from zero and it is about luck, talent and guts. If you see the scores of those who qualified in Asian Games in the 5th-8th position, they won't make it to Olympic finals with those scores. So, the idea is to prepare for sterner tests. It is a matter of peaking at the right time.

It took a lot of effort after the Asian Games result with Manu. Sometimes you have to cajole, reason, be stern—it is a constant effort. But that setback worked—in the sense that she worked harder. Maybe, had she won the medal, she would have been complacent.

Now that you have been working with juniors for some years now and creating strong bench strength, isn't it time for you to look at senior coaching?

No. There is nothing you can teach there. It is more fun to teach and nurture talent. We have been getting the desired results over the last 6-7 years working with junior shooters. But, for me, the biggest concern is losing talented juniors as soon as they graduate to senior level. It is very easy to get distracted. There are so many talented shooters who at 21 are nowhere now.

I would like to work in personal capacity with all those shooters in senior category who came through junior ranks and are struggling. They have the potential. We have to safeguard them. Or else, the young shooters will be lost.

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