Former pistol ace Jaspal Rana on Thursday claimed that he was asked to leave Karni Singh Shooting Range by High Performance Director (HPD) Pierre Beauchamp over breach of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), a charge the 47-year-old vehemently denied. Rana, a decorated shooter with multiple Asian Games medals to his name, is currently not associated with National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) but is working with pistol shooter Manu Bhaker as her personal coach.
Last month, NRAI had sent SOPs pertaining to personal coaches to all shooters stating that “no one except the team coaches and support staff is allowed to enter the FOP in training and competition venues.”
As per NRAI, neither Manu nor Rana have acknowledged the receipt of the SOP.
“NRAI sent concerned shooter a copy of SOP cum Code of Conduct on December 22, 2023 and reminder on January 24, 2024 to return COC duly signed by self and her personal coach, which was not done,” an official said.
On his part, Rana said: “The incident happened in the 10m range at around 10:30 am this morning. I was sitting behind Lane No. 43 in the 10m range when the HPD came to me and asked me to leave. When asked for the reason, he said I was violating the SOP that forbade me to enter the Field of Play (FOP). I was near Lane 43 where a few pay and play shooters were practising. Lanes 46-80 in the range are occupied by NRAI, so I was not in the FOP. In fact, I was almost ten lanes away from Manu’s lane. If they want, they can check the cameras.”
Kunwar Sultan Singh, NRAI secretary general, backed Beauchamp.
“Officially, he is not Manu’s personal coach. There’s a process to apply for a personal coach but we never received anything in writing. Still, NRAI never stopped her from going to Rana. The HPD was well within his rights to ask him to leave since technically he is not Manu’s coach,” said Kunwar Sultan.
“We are months away from the Olympics and we don’t want such incidents to affect our shooters’ focus. A shooter of Rana’s stature must know this. The HPD has delivered a record haul at the World Championships and Asian Games and we have also won a record number of quotas under him. “
