Shooters jittery, coaches quitting ahead of Asiad

Less than two months before the World Championships in Baku where 48 quota places for next year's Paris Olympics will be on offer, Indian shooting has been hit with the resignation of three high-profile coaches. While shotgun high-performance manager Lauryn Mark and foreign trap coach Russell Mark mailed their resignation on May 28, chief national rifle coach Joydeep Karmakar quit on June 10. All three coaches have alleged lack of communication from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) while the re-negotiation of Lauryn's remuneration was an additional sticking point in the case of the Australian couple.

- Shantanu Srivastava

The three coaches have also had differences with High Performance Director Pierre Beauchamp with Karmakar alleging the Canadian "pushed and shoved" and verbally abused him during last year's World Championships in Cairo. "He even used the F word while manhandling me. Such behaviour is unbecoming of a man of his position. I did not retaliate because I didn't want to bring disrepute to India on foreign land. The entire incident happened in front of senior NRAI officials," Karmakar said. The 43-year-old, who was drafted in as national coach last year on a three-year contract that was up for renewal each year, termed the NRAI environment "toxic and unbearable."