NRAI appoints Joydeep Karmakar as chief rifle coach; over 30 coaches retained

The NRAI has appointed Arjun Awardee and 2012 London Olympics finalist in 50m Rifle Prone event Joydeep Karmakar as the chief coach of India's Rifle Shooting squad. This comes in aftermath of India's disastrous show in shooting at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"It feels like my life has come a full circle. I finished fourth at the 2012 London Games, and ten years later, I am appointed as a national coach. It is a great honour to be a part of this journey," said Karmakar, in a telephonic conversation with The Bridge.

The 42-year-old Karmakar, who has been running his own coaching academy and coaches the likes of the young Mehuli Ghosh and others, is expected to hold the reins of the Indian team until 2025.

Besides appointing Karmakar as the chief coach for Rifle Shooting, the NRAI has also retained over 30 coaches from the previous setup. This after their president Raninder Singh had vowed of a "complete coaching overhaul" in the middle of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The NRAI had in December 2021 fired a total of 28 coaches and almost all of them except Jaspal Rana have now been reinstated, as per reports. This means everyone including Suma Shirur, Ronak Pandit, Samresh Jung, Deepali Deshpande and others will return to the fold.

The 45-year-old Jaspal Rana had an ugly public fall out with his star ward Manu Bhaker just after the Tokyo Games and was pointed out by NRAI Chief Raninder Singh to be the "negative factor" in the Indian contingent.