Exclusive | 'Three bronze medals from a large Olympic shooting contingent is not good enough': Ex-India shooter

Indian shooter Manu Bhaker’s feat of becoming the first Indian athlete, post-independence, to win two medals in the same edition of the Olympics is a huge achievement, no doubt. And it has been celebrated and rightly hailed by one and all. But what about India’s overall shooting performance at the last Olympics, in Paris? Remember the country sent a large, 21-member, shooting contingent to the Games, which returned with a total of three bronze medals. According to former India shooter Shimon Sharif, who recently entered into a partnership with the ISSF Academy to train coaches, this is not a strong enough performance at all. The million-dollar question is – what is the take of the national federation and other stakeholders of the Indian shooting on this?

The landscape of shooting as a sport in India has changed dramatically since Rajyavardhan Rathore won the silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004. But, though more and more private academies are coming up, enabling more and more budding shooters to take up the sport, without having to worry about owning equipment, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, if India is to be considered a shooting powerhouse. One of the aspects that Sharif talks about in this journey is more focus on mental training and preparation. Why are multiple Indian shooters doing well in qualification rounds, only to let the pressure of the finals get to them?

Regardless of the areas that need work and improvement, what cannot be doubted is the fact that shooting as a sport is becoming more popular. While achievements like those of Rathore, Abhinav Bindra, Manu Bhaker and others go a long way in inspiring youngsters to take up the sport, the domestic system also needs to continue to work hard to ensure that no talent is wasted and that shooters remain focussed on the only thing that they need to focus on – shooting.

In this exclusive interview with Firstpost, Shimon Sharif, who runs a very popular shooting website and multiple centres of a shooting academy he launched, almost two decades ago, talks about the various areas that the powers that be of Indian shooting need to focus on more, so that the future of Indian shooting, which looks bright right now, turns out to be actually bright.

This is part two of an exclusive interview with Shimon Sharif. The first part can be found here.

What are your own personal and very realistic expectations from Indian shooters at the World Cup events this year? There are two coming up in April 2025, in Argentina and Peru…

Sharif: World Cups are not a problem for Indian shooters. They have been performing very well in the World Cups. Not all the top shooters in the world participate in a World Cup. Some of them take breaks, they choose their World Cups, which gives a kind of edge to the Indian teams as well, because the Indian A team is always there at all the World Cups. You will see (more often than not) the Indian team being on top of the medals tally at the World Cups, but that does not mean that the Indian shooters are the world leaders in shooting sport. You have to keep in mind the fact that many of the top shooters in the world are probably not part of that World Cup. So, I don’t see the Indian team having any problems in the two World Cups that are coming up in April in Argentina and Peru.

These World Cups are the season-opening World Cups and a strong Indian team has been announced for that, which includes a lot of Olympians. These shooters will obviously perform very well because they have Olympic preparation and experience behind them. So, I don’t see much of a problem for the Indian shooters. Many of them will finish on the podium. It will be a strong performance by India, at least at these two World Cups. Things will become more and more difficult as the next Olympic Games come closer (in 2028).

Picking up from where you left off, what direction would you like the coaching etc of the shooters who eventually make the cut for the 2028 LA Olympics to take? Going by everything we have seen over the last three editions - two which produced no medals and the last which had a record number of Indian shooters at 21 and produced three medals - what are the big lessons that the powers that be must have learnt?

Sharif: We need to focus a lot on the mental aspect. As you must have noticed, in the Paris Olympics – the shooters, including Manu, you could see a lot of shooters being in the top two, towards the end of the final, and then slipping down. Like Arjun Babuta (10m Air Rifle shooter) – he was right at the top in the top two and just in the closing stages of the final, he slipped down (finished fourth in the men’s 10m Air Rifle final). And then there were others too (who suffered a similar fate). Manu, in her third event in Paris (women’s 25m Air Pistol), there was a tie with Veronika (Major) and there was a shoot-off to decide the elimination for the third place and Manu lost that shoot-off. There were others also who missed out narrowly. I think Sarbjot in his individual event (men’s 10m Air Pistol – was in the top three in qualification, but missed the final by one inner-10) finished ninth in qualification. The top eight make it to the finals.

Then there was the skeet (mixed) team which lost the bronze medal match (Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan lost to Chinese shooters 43-44 in the bronze medal match). There were too many shooters who lost in the latter stages, which clearly indicates, that they were not as mentally strong as their opponents, who eventually pushed them down and made it to the podium. So, this is one aspect where the Indian shooters need to improve. We need to have a better system of mental training and preparation. They are trained to shoot very high qualification scores and making the cut for the finals. But they are not strong enough (mentally) to be on the podium.

Three bronze medals from a large contingent (21 Indian shooters at the Paris Olympics) and if you compare that with very small contingents, which won a gold and a silver or overall higher colour medals, you will actually see that the Indian performance was not strong enough. This is one aspect (of Indian shooting) which was clearly visible at the Paris Olympics – shooters slipping down, just when it mattered the most.

One thing that cannot be denied is that Indian shooting has seen its share of ugly controversies and internal politicking etc. One thing that shocked and saddened many in the country was Jaspal Rana’s revelation about not being paid by the NRAI and how he has been struggling financially. Here is someone who is a decorated Indian shooter, a well-respected coach and someone who hand-held Manu Bhaker, who went on to win two Olympic medals. What was your first reaction when you heard about this and what is your take on how the system can avoid such things going forward? Jaspal is of course back now with the NRAI as a high-performance coach for the 25m pistol team, but overall, the last thing anyone would want is to lose a quality coach…

Sharif: You know, the fight between the personal coaches and the national coaches and the grassroot-level coaches, when it comes to the Olympics – that needs to be handled and everybody needs to be considered as part of the team, with the larger interest of an Olympic medal (as the goal). Jaspal was the personal coach of Manu Bhaker and he went to the Paris Olympics as a personal coach. Manu was giving credit only to Jaspal – the rightful credit. But this did not go down very well with the national federation’s system and their scheme of things. The national federation have their own team of national pistol coaches – the head coach, other coaches, high-performance pistol coach and they wouldn’t have been very happy that their leading, star shooter, going into the Olympics is giving credit to the personal coach. And the federation also will not be happy, because the personal coach is not connected with the national federation. That is why people try to stop the personal coaches, not giving them accreditation, making it difficult for the coaches to be available with the athlete. All that kind of politics comes in, which should be avoided.

Shooting sport is a big sport for the country, in terms of the Olympics. If you talk about medal-winning sports, then shooting is a very important sport for India. I think all three category of coaches – your initial coach, your personal coach and the national coach – they all need to work in harmony. It wasn’t a good sight to see a legend like Jaspal being ignored. They had a felicitation ceremony in Delhi, where they invited Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh (bronze in 10m Air Pistol mixed team event, with Manu Bhaker) and Swapnil (Kusale – bronze in men’s 50m Rifle three-positions event at the Paris Olympics) and they honoured and gave cash prizes to the national coaches. But not to Jaspal and Deepali (Deshpande – Swapnil’s coach) – who were actually instrumental in India winning those three Olympic medals.

In fact, there was a third person who was not even invited. His name is Abhishek Rana. He is not very well known, like Jaspal and Deepali. He is Sarabjot’s coach (since 2016) and he was not even invited. This is exactly what I was telling you about – he (Abhishek Rana) runs a private shooting range, where Sarabjot trains and Sarabjot gave all the credit to him. He had travelled to Paris also, but he was not invited (for the felicitation ceremony).

One of the key factors that determines the overall long-term health of a sport is the supply system. If the second and third and fourth rungs are robust, the sports is said to be in good, safe hands. We have seen that with cricket for instance in India. The quality and the standards in the lower rungs of domestic cricket are also quite high. Where does Indian shooting stand in that regard - what is the bench strength, which will be given centre-stage in the next say 10-12 years, looking like?

Sharif: The bench strength is very strong. There is a team that’s going for the World Cups in April and there are three times that number (of shooters) who could also have been selected, who are equally strong. When Abhinav Bindra used to shoot and win a gold at the nationals and you saw the score of the person who finished eighth, there used to be a big difference in the qualification score. But now if you pick up any national championship qualification score, you will see that the top 25 people have almost the same score. They are only separated by decimal points. So, the competition has increased and we have many good shooters now. That is why you see new names in every national championship and they are looking to make the cut for the Indian team. It’s not easy these days to retain your place in the Indian team. You will be replaced. The bench strength is very strong. The federation should use this. The same people should not be sent to all the World Cups. They should try different people in different World Cup, to see who performs (better) under pressure.

What is your realistic take about where you see Indian shooting in the next 10 years. When we are in 2035, how strong will Indian shooting be? 

Sharif: The sport is becoming bigger and bigger (in India). In terms of participation, the numbers at the national championships gives you the picture that the sport is growing. Each time you see the participation list it becomes longer in the national championships. Since the Tokyo Olympics, in the last four years, more and more people have picked up the sport. After the Paris Olympics also a lot of new people have got into the sport. I see the sport becoming a very popular sport also, ten years from now, similar to what it is like in Germany. In Germany, there are shooting leagues, where locals actually buy tickets and watch. That’s the kind of culture Germany has for shooting sport. Every village there has multiple shooting ranges. In Germany and other European countries also, the athletes don’t just play to go and represent their countries at the Olympics, it’s a culture there. Shooting sport is a culture in these countries.

So, I think something similar happening in India, because I see a lot of people in corporates shooting very seriously. Some of them shoot after office hours, in the evening. Many of them shoot over the weekends. They tell us also that they don’t want to compete. They just want to shoot because they enjoy the process of shooting. So, the sport will become (in India) what it is like in European countries in the years to come, as more and more shooting ranges become accessible, more and more people get involved with the sport. The sport is definitely on the rise.

Last year I was talking to shooter and coach Rakesh Manpat and he told me about the extreme challenges faced by differently-abled shooters in the country. What can the system overall - the govt, TOPS scheme, NRAI, SAI, PCI etc - do to make things easier for these athletes going forward? 

Sharif: So, you know there is another shooter - Mona Agarwal, who won the bronze in the same event (10m Air Rifle Standing SH1) in which Avani (Lekhara) won the gold at the Paris Paralympics. So, Mona called me just a few months before the Games and we had a chat and she mentioned that she is struggling for funds to buy a special wheelchair (para shooting sports wheelchair). Now, these are not basic wheelchairs. They are customised and they are very expensive. If I remember correctly, it was priced at about Rs 7-8 lakh. It is made by a particular company and is specialised equipment. She was struggling before the Paralympics to buy that chair which could have improved her performance. But when she won the bronze medal, we saw pictures of her with the who’s who posing with her, with a lot of support and praise coming in for her.

The differently-abled athletes face a greater challenge than the able-bodied athletes. As it is, if you see rifle shooting – it is a big task. I have been a rifle shooter and as somebody who is fit, I can tell you - it is a big task to carry that heavy, five-and-a-half kilo rifle, which becomes heavier with the case in one hand and in the other hand you have to carry your (shooting) suit – jacket, trousers, gloves, shoes, bag – which is quite heavy, along with your other accessories, luggage etc. and travel with all that. Wherever the competitions happen, these are large campuses. I can’t even imagine what a para-rifle athlete must be going through.

So, this is a big challenge and (also) most of the shooting ranges are not para-friendly, especially the practice ranges. I am not talking about the competition ranges here – Karni Singh range is very para-friendly and so is the shooting range in Bhopal (MP State shooting academy range), because they have been made like that. Suppose I am a differently-abled person and want to shoot today then I can’t go to a Karni Singh range, because I don’t have my own equipment, so I will go to a private shooting range, where I can rent equipment and that facility might not be para-friendly. So, this is a practical problem. Also, compared to able-bodied athletes, para-athletes don’t enjoy the same kind of spotlight and because of that they don’t get that initial support. The real support (sponsorship etc) only comes in when they actually win a Paralympics medal. These are the areas that need improvement.

I know that no coach likes to do this, but if you had to pick one Indian shooter - who we should keep an eye on in the next say 3-to-5-year cycle, who would that be and why?

Sharif: I don’t want to name any star athlete, because everyone knows the stars. But, one name that you should keep in mind is that of an athlete called Suruchi Phogat (an 18-year-old who won the 10m air pistol gold at the last National Games). She has been registering some really high scores. She shot a 585 at the Nationals, where she won both the youth, junior and senior gold medals in the 10m Air Pistol – the same event in which Manu won the Olympic bronze. There was another competition, which wasn’t organised by the NRAI, where she performed extremely well, registering the same score – 585. Then in the (selection) trials, she shot very well again, shooting around 586 (in qualification round). She is in the Indian team for the World Cups (in April), along with Manu Bhaker (who finished third in her first event since the Paris Olympics).

Suruchi is from the same district in Haryana, as Manu – Jhajjar. She is the one to watch out for. Just to put it into perspective – 585 is more than what was shot in the qualification round of the women’s 10m Air Pistol at the Paris Olympics (Veronika Major of Hungary topped the qualification at the Paris Olympics in this event with a score of 582, while Manu Bhaker who won bronze shot 580 in qualification). 585 is a very high score, which Suruchi has been shooting very consistently. After the three gold medals at the National Championships (youth, junior and senior), she also won the National Games gold (in 10m Air Pistol). She started off as a wrestler and then switched to shooting.