The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has announced the return of Dronacharya awardees Jaspal Rana and Deepali Deshpande to key coaching roles for the national shooting team.
Multiple Asian Games gold medallist Jaspal Rana, who played a crucial role in Manu Bhaker’s two-medal triumph at the Paris Olympics, will serve as the high-performance coach for the 25m Pistol team. Olympian Deepali Deshpande, who guided Swapnil Kusale to a bronze medal in the 50m Rifle Three Positions at Paris, has been appointed head coach of the rifle team.
Their return comes after being dropped from the coaching roster following a disappointing Rio Olympics, where none of the Indian shooters came close to winning a medal.
The NRAI has now appointed 16 new coaches while retaining 19 from the previous roster. This includes Jitu Rai (10m Air Pistol), Pooja Ghatkar (10m Air Rifle), Pemba Tamang (25m Pistol), Amarinder Cheema (Skeet), and Varsha Tomar (Trap).
Mansher Singh (Shotgun) and Ronak Pandit (Pistol) have been named high-performance managers, with D.S. Chandel (Air Rifle), Anwer Sultan (Trap), and Manoj Kumar (50m Rifle) joining as high-performance coaches. Vikram Chopra (Shotgun) and Samaresh Jung (Pistol) have been retained as head coaches.