Legendary pistol shooter Jaspal Rana has expressed serious concern over the delay in naming the Indian shooting team for the Paris Olympics, saying it will leave the selected shooters with little time for the final stages of preparations. Several countries, including the United States and Italy, as well as many European powers, have announced that their teams and shooters are in the final stages of fine-tuning skills and programs for the Olympics, even as India began a nearly month-long exercise on Friday.

The top five shooters in the pistol and rifle categories will undergo four trials – April 19-27 (New Delhi, Trials 1 and 2) and May 10-19 (Bhopal, Trials 3 and 4) ——It will be completed after the Paris trials, leaving precious time for the final stage of training.

The Paris Olympics will open on July 26.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has finalized selections for the shotgun event but they are yet to announce the entry list in the hope that more shooters will qualify for Paris in the Olympic qualifying finals starting in Doha on Friday.

“Our training and preparations are different from other countries around the world. They (shooting sports powerhouses) have selected their teams and started training while we are behind schedule,” said Padma Shri and Arjuna. Award-winning shooter Ra Na made scathing comments about NRAI’s policies.

“No one knows yet who will go and who won’t go. This puts a lot of pressure on the players who have earned a spot, and much less pressure on those who have not earned a spot,” the four players added. Asian Games gold medalist and current personal trainer of Olympian Manu Bakker.

In shooting sports, shooters earn quotas for their countries and the federation decides on teams based on their performance at trials, national and international competitions.

Rana also criticized the ongoing selection trials at Karni Singh Range, saying he had never seen a tournament where only five shooters were shortlisted in each event.

According to ISSF rules, eight shooters qualified for the finals in pistol and rifle events, with the exception of the men’s 25m rapid fire, where six advanced to the medal round.

“Well, I’ve never seen five shooters (compete) in (the finals), so I don’t know (what happened). I’ve never shot like that in my life. It’s the first time I’ve seen five shooters compete.

“At least, there should be three more shooters. They should at least complete the number of shooters in the final…maybe add three ‘zero’ shooters. They (NRAI) should consider including zero shooters (to complete ISSF requirements ),” he added.

“Zero” shooters will not compete for medals or quotas, but will complete the minimum requirements of the competition.

“Yes, I will be criticized for saying this, but I think there should be three more shooters (according to ISSF requirements). There are a lot of things we can complain about, there are a lot of things that can be done but whatever is there (in front of everyone) , the shooter must be ready for everything,” he added.

Jasper felt that a series of four trials was a bit too much, with little time for rest and recovery in between.

Manu and Asian Games gold medalist Aisha Singh, for example, will have to compete in eight trials as the two will compete in the 10m air pistol and 25m rapid fire events. This puts additional stress on their physical and mental health over the course of a month.

“My personal view is that shooters should be ready for anything, but to be honest, this is going too far. They (the federation) could have used some scores from (domestic and international) matches as trial scores. You (NRAI) There are all options if you want to do it,” he said.

When asked if this was an ideal situation for shooters to decompress, with not even two days between trials, he said: “There’s no time (to decompress). Even between trials There is not enough time between Delhi and Bhopal. “

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