‘Roadmap lacking’

Olympic medallist shooter Vijay Kumar feels the Indian shooting team’s preparations have been far from ideal and that a clear roadmap should have been in place for shooters six months before the mega event. ADVERTISEMENT “Observing from the outside, I feel it is the planning of players in the last six months where we are lacking. The federation, I feel, should have had a crystal clear roadmap on what all competitions the shooters should take part in and the kind of training they should get and under whom.

“So the focus should have been on that. The last six months the focus should be on how to make the players more focused, how much to train them, how much foreign exposure needs to be given, all that needs to be worked to the ‘T’,” he added. “This year also, I’ve heard that the team were announced three [two] months before the Olympics.

The trials were very late and the team announcement too was late. This exercise should have been completed in January-February, to be very frank,” he added. Dreams fulfilled and redemption earned! India's Olympic-bound relay teams at a glance “The federation’s policy to have Olympic Selection Trials was fair but the execution was a bit late.

The process should have been completed 2-3 months before it actually happened. The last 5-6 months [before Olympics] are crucial. I must say, if the competition at the Olympics is in July-end, then January or maximum February the trials should have ended.

Here trials were going on til.