'They Should Focus On Winning Individual Medals': Former Olympic Medalist Puts His Trust On Indian Shooters

With the Asian Games around the corner, there will be pressure and trust on Indian Athletes to perform well and bring home the medals. While it is hard to predict India’s medal tally or how many medals athletes will bring, there is a sport which is likely to bring home a few medals according to former Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar. That sport is shooting.

Vijay Kumar has expressed his confidence in Indian Shooters and believes they can win medals in Japan. But he believes that is only going to happen if the shooters heed his advice and focus on one thing first: focus on individual performances and glory to maximise their medal tally.

Five-time Commonwealth Gold Medallist wants Indian Shooters to approach the games with an individualistic mindset to get the best out of themselves and get their hands on more medals.

“I am hopeful that every member of the contingent should be capable of returning with a medal. But players should not focus or rely on team medals. They should focus on winning individual medals. That way, the performance will be better and more noteworthy.”

But he believes there is a nation that disrupts the medal tallies of Indian shooters, and that nation is China.

Vijay Kumar Praises Chinese Shooters And Believes They Will Pose the Biggest Competition To Indian Shooters

The former Pistol ace wants Indian shooters to beware and keep an eye on the Chinese shooting contingent. He believes they would once again be formidable. He believes the Chinese are better prepared to achieve success in international competitions like the Asian Games.

Why does Vijay believe in Chinese shooters and their ability to win medals on the big stage? Well, according to him, China has a better organisational structure in place to achieve success. He praised their preparedness and their ability to pick out talent from a young age, which India hasn’t been able to do.

According to the Olympic silver medallist, Chinese shooters stay in the system for a longer period of time, which prepares them for success at the international stage. Coaching also plays a key part in their development.

“Of course, China is doing much better. But you have to look at how they start preparing at the grassroots level, where India is still lacking." "The way they pick children at the start, the coaching staff they provide and the longer period they take to prepare them fully for international competitions are things India needs to look at”.

While he acknowledged the superiority of Chinese coaching, he believes India has made great strides in this department over the years.

Vijay Kumar Praises The Improvement in the Indian Coaching Scene But Believes There is Still a Long Way To Go

Five-time Commonwealth Gold Medallist believes the Indian coaching scene has come a long way and there are some good coaches in the setup. But he stressed that this number is far less than what the Indian shooting setup requires to achieve success.

He believes there is still a dearth of good and experienced coaches who can train shooters for success at the international stage. The former Pistol ace pointed out that most coaches who are there have no international experience or success at the international stage. Most of them are there to boost numbers and don’t belong there.

What Does India Need In Their Coaches?

Vijay Kumar believes the Indian Shooting setup needs to hire only those coaches who have won medals at international competitions like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, etc.

These coaches according to him have the experience and know how as to how to deal with pressure and perform at these competitions.

“Those who have won medals at the international level are the ones capable of grooming players for international glory. Such coaches should be brought into the setup. Those who have won medals at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympics should become coaches”.

According to him, the dearth of good coaches slows down the development process of Indian shooters. It takes time to prepare them for success.

Speaking of good coaches, India recently lost their long-time great coach, Jaspal Rana. His death leaves a void. Will it have an impact on Indian shooters?

Death of Jaspal Rana: Big Loss But Vijay Believes Indian Shooters Can Cope With It

The former Pistol Ace is not downplaying the loss of Jaspal Rana. His death leaves a big hole in Indian Shooting. According to him, Rana was someone who had the right temperament for coaching. He took time and had an eye for talent while supporting the players under him.

But he believes Indian Shooters are mentally strong and have the experience to focus on the task at hand. They have enjoyed a lot of success as of late and could continue to do that in the Asian Games.

Rana’s death will have the most effect on his most successful student, Indian ace shooter Manu Bhaker. Will she be able to cope with such a loss? Well, Vijay believes she can.

“We want Manu to perform well, but if her performance does not come up to the mark, everyone will take that angle that her coach is not there. But she has played in so many international competitions and is so mentally strong. She should accept the situation and move forward”.

While the Indian shooting contingent is full of talented and competitive individuals, Kumar believes India is still leaving some great and successful talent at home, such as 10m Air Pistol shooters, Samrat Rana and Varun Tomar, which comes as a surprise to him.

He believes these two should have been included given that they won medals at World Championships. According to him, players with success at internationals stage should get priority selection because these players have experience and know how to win under pressure.