What do you say of a shooter revered in the world of clay shooting—one who has a status of a demigod? Russell Mark, gold medallist in the double trap event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, silver medallist at the 2000 Olympics and gold and bronze medals at Commonwealth Games in 2006 and 2010 respectively. He also won the gold at the ISSF World Championships in 1996. With his win in the 1996 Atlanta Games, Mark became the first shotgun shooter in the history of the sport to win all four of the world’s major individual titles, the World Cup, the World Cup Final, the World Championship and the Olympic Games. He competed in six Olympic Games from 1998 to 2012 after which he hung up his boots to focus on his family and hospitality business in Victoria.
Mark shares a close bond with India; he coached India’s first Olympic medallist in shooting, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won the silver medal at the Athens Games in 2004. This spurred Indian shooting’s medal-winning journey at the Olympics.
He has been a friend, coach and mentor to another of India’s finest double trap shooters, Ronjan Sodhi, a former world number one, a gold medallist in the 2010 Asian Games, double silver medallist in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and winner of three consecutive medals in the 2010 ISSF World Cup Finals (gold in 2010 and 2011, silver in 2012).
The Australian recently found through a DNA test that his grandmother had Indian roots although he hasn’t traced the lineage in detail yet.
The shooting legend was speaking at a webinar organised by the Manav Rachna Educational Institutions group that is part of a series started by the institution called #ManavRachnaHappyTimes. The webinar is a way to keep their students, staff and coaches engaged via interactions with sports legends, coaches etc. The institution has its own state-of-the-art shooting range helmed by Sodhi.
With the world slowly emerging from the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, Mark has taken to online coaching and mentoring in the last three months. With his hotel business nearly shut due to the lockdown, he is focusing on online coaching instead. He has expressed his interest to work with Indian trap shooters once again in the near future and complimented India on having the best rifle and pistol shooting team in the world presently.
His first impression of Indian shooters wasn’t so great back in the early 1990s, but when Mark saw Mansher Singh shoot in the 1994 CWG, he admitted that no one saw it coming. In the 2002 CWG in Manchester, the Indian team comprising Rathore and Moraad Ali Khan beat the indomitable Aussie duo of Mark and Michael Diamond to win the gold. Speaking about India’s best shotgun shooters in recent times and both his wards, Rathore and Sodhi, Mark said, “Chilly (Rathore) was one of the toughest competitors. I am very happy to be part of Chilly’s success. People like Chilly made way for Ronjan. The latter very easily shot better than anybody in the world between 2010 and 2012. Both were very different shooters, had different techniques. I would say Ronjan’s technique was better than Chilly’s. He had a few habits that he needed to get out of, and once he did, Ronjan was technically nearly perfect.”
As destiny would have it though, while Sodhi in his peak form was unable to win a medal in London 2012, Rathore with his silver medal-winning feat in Athens 2004 has his name etched in Indian sports history.
What goes into the making of a champion shooter?
The Australian former shooter and now coach said, “Get technical fundamentals correct to be a champion. Certain things like how to mount your gun, where you mount it and most importantly don’t be afraid of losing and don’t make excuses when you do.”
He appreciated the work being put in by the current Indian trap team coach Mansher Singh. However, even as Indian rifle and pistol shooters are gathering accolades, medals and attention, the trap team has not been doing well in recent times. When asked what his advice would be to Mansher and Sodhi, who are currently mentoring Indian trap shooters, Mark said, “They have to expose their shooters to as much competition as they can get. The problem is sometimes shooters become very good at practice ranges but on the day of the competition, they tend to shoot 10-15 per cent less. Take them to competitions where they are slightly out of their depths, but in long run this one step back will take them two steps forward.”
He was particularly critical of the decision to omit double trap from the Olympics. With the event not included in Olympics, many double trap shooters have switched to trap or skeet to be able to compete at the highest level.
“It’s a shame in many ways because double trap is a made-for-TV event. It is a good spectacle for even those who don’t follow shooting. Unfortunately, ISSF made a mistake by taking out the women’s double trap, you cannot have a sport with no women’s event. It was a poor decision which ultimately led to the total double trap event being left out of Olympics.”
The 56-year-old, who is also a commentator with ABC radio, admitted that experimentation with formats of shooting competitions is good for television, but almost all shooters hate the changed format of mixed competition etc.
Mark disagreed that shooting was becoming a “young athlete” sport with more young shooters winning medals, India being an example. Batting hard for experience, he pointed out that in Rio, the double trap gold was won by a 50-year-old after he had missed winning in his previous Olympic attempts.
“I would rather shoot against a 50-year-old than a 20-year-old. However, shooters today have access to better technology, equipment and coaching is lot better now. You cannot bring the same experience one has of having shot in an Olympic final before.”
