A senior coach accompanying India’s 30-member shooting contingent at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games has expressed disappointment with the arrangements ahead of the competition, particularly the long travel times involved in getting the shooters to and from the training-cum-competition venue.
The coach said he had arrived in Japan with a certain level of expectation but felt the arrangements had not quite matched the image he had of the country, with the Indian shooters housed around 50km from the range and in different hotels.
For a contingent featuring several of India’s leading medal hopefuls, including double Olympic bronze medallist Manu Bhaker and multiple Asian Games medallist Esha Singh, the commute has meant early starts and long hours on the road to adhere to training schedules.
“This (transportation) is a real problem. But what can we do about it? I didn’t see any hotels in the vicinity of the shooting range. If there were, we would have reached early. They gave us accommodation at a place which was far, so now what can we do about it?” the coach, who has been to multiple Asian and Commonwealth Games as a player, said on condition of anonymity.
He said the issue had been flagged to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) though he had not personally discussed it with its officials in recent days.
“I presume the federation (NRAI) would have told them (Asian Games organisers). I haven’t spoken to the federation about it, but we had informed the federation about this issue and this discussion had been going on,” he said.
The coach, however, acknowledged that long commutes are not entirely unusual in shooting, with ranges often located away from major population centres.
“Having said that, I would also like to highlight that the ranges are very far away from main habitation. In China (2022 Hangzhou Asian Games) also, it used to take one hour to reach the range. So it has now become a part of shooting,” he said.
“But having said all that, Japan being Japan, I am a bit disappointed with the arrangements. It could have been better.”
The transport situation came into sharper focus on Thursday when buses ferrying the shooters to the range were delayed. The shooters are spread across three or four hotels, all relatively close to one another, but have to assemble at one hotel for breakfast before taking the buses to the venue.
A bus scheduled to leave at 8:40am reportedly departed after 9am, while another scheduled for 9:40am left only around 10:30am.
“Today there was a lot of issue with the buses because the buses that had to come did not arrive, perhaps because of a shortage of buses or something. The bus schedule to depart at 8:40 left after 9am and the one scheduled for 9:40 left at 10:30am,” he said.
Training itself was not disrupted, he said, but the shooters had to adjust their schedules accordingly.
“Training as such wasn’t hampered, but we had to shift our time. From an organisation point of view, it was disappointing, but maybe tomorrow could be a different story,” he said.
The daily routine has also demanded considerable discipline from the shooters. With the journey to the venue sometimes taking close to two hours each way, some have had to wake up as early as 5am, finish breakfast before 6:30am and then begin the long commute.
The coach said there had been some complaints among the shooters, but the team had little choice but to adapt.
“They (organisers) could be trying their best, but the image we have of Japan has been blemished somewhat. It could have been better,” he said.
“At the same time, we have to come to terms with what we have. Either we can crib or take it in our stride and say, Let’s focus on what we can do because we cannot do anything about transportation.”
The coach also spoke about India’s choice of accommodation in the context of the more unusual arrangement being used for several thousand athletes, who are being housed on the cruise ship Costa Serena.
He said he would personally prefer the certainty of a hotel room, particularly for shooters who need to maintain a strict routine in the build-up to competition.
“I would not prefer a cruise. I would prefer a bed on land,” he said, pointing out that athletes unfamiliar with life on a ship could potentially face issues such as seasickness.
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