New Delhi, February 15 (HS): The Governing Body meeting of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) was held at the Constitution Club in the national capital on Saturday, in which many important decisions were taken. One of the major decisions was that many former shooters were appointed as national team coaches. Apart from this, Dronacharya Award winners Deepali Deshpande and Jaspal Rana were appointed as Head Coach (Rifle) and High-Performance Coach (25 meters) respectively. In total, 16 new members were included in the coaching team, while 19 were retained, including one coordinator (Amar Jung Singh) and two coaches (Preeti Sharma and Anuja Jung) were appointed for deaf shooters.

Among the former shooters who have been selected as the new coaches of the national team, prominent names include former pistol shooter Jitu Rai (Padma Shri and Khel Ratna awardee, 10m air pistol). Apart from this, former international players Pooja Ghatkar (10m air rifle), Pemba Tamang (25m pistol), Amarinder Cheema (skeet) and Varsha Tomar (trap) are also included.

In addition, two high-performance managers Mansher Singh (shotgun) and Ronak Pandit (pistol) have also been appointed. Apart from Jaspal Rana, other high-performance coaches include D.S. Chandel (air rifle), Anwar Sultan (trap) and Manoj Kumar (50m rifle). Veterans Vikram Chopra (shotgun) and Samresh Jung (pistol) have also been retained and will be part of the trinity of head coaches along with Deepali.

Some important decisions related to India’s first shooting league ‘Shooting League of India’ were also taken in this meeting. Prominent among them was former Hockey India CEO Elena Norma being appointed as the league’s consultant and New Horizons Alliance Pvt Ltd being selected as the marketing partner.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar