India’s chief shooting coach Sunny Thomas asked his shooters to shoot with pressure and not against it if they want to win a medal at the 2012 London Games. Thomas, who is here for his fifth Olympics, said the shooters are trained to handle pressure and they won’t get overawed by the situation. “You have to shoot with the pressure, you don’t have to fight against it. The shooters are trained for this entire situation,” said Thomas at the Games Village on Monday.
Thomas feels Indian shooters are hogging the limelight because of their consistent good performance in the international arena.
“I will not agree with the view that it is a sudden development, because if you see, we have been performing well for last so many years, but yes we were not noticed or acknowledged properly.
“We have produced lot of champions, record holders but they all went unnoticed. However when Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore got the silver in Athens, the world started noticing the Indian shooters and began following them. When Abhinav Bindra won the gold in Beijing, it may have been surprise for many but not for us. The reason being that he (Bindra) was earlier the World Junior Champion and then Senior World Champion,” he said.
Thomas also said that good showing by the Indian shooters, especially in the Commonwealth Games Asian Games, World Cups and World Championships have ignited interest in this sport in India.
Asked about his squad’s chances, Thomas said: “Well we got a silver in Athens and gold in Beijing. I hope we will have better results here. The shooters have adapted to the conditions. In any case they have been training in Europe so weather is no problem because all of them are used to it.”
“I will not agree with the view that it is a sudden development, because if you see, we have been performing well for last so many years, but yes we were not noticed or acknowledged properly.
“We have produced lot of champions, record holders but they all went unnoticed. However when Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore got the silver in Athens, the world started noticing the Indian shooters and began following them. When Abhinav Bindra won the gold in Beijing, it may have been surprise for many but not for us. The reason being that he (Bindra) was earlier the World Junior Champion and then Senior World Champion,” he said.
Thomas also said that good showing by the Indian shooters, especially in the Commonwealth Games Asian Games, World Cups and World Championships have ignited interest in this sport in India.
Asked about his squad’s chances, Thomas said: “Well we got a silver in Athens and gold in Beijing. I hope we will have better results here. The shooters have adapted to the conditions. In any case they have been training in Europe so weather is no problem because all of them are used to it.”
