Former Olympic champion Russell Mark appointed India's trap coach till Paris 2024
A file image of Russell Mark.
|(Getty)
The National Rifle Association of India has engaged famous Australian Olympic gold medal shooter Russell Mark as a trap instructor for the Indian shooting squad. According to the Times of India, Mark has been awarded a contract till the 2024 Olympics in Paris and will be evaluated annually.
Mark, a gold medalist in Atlanta 1996 and a silver medalist in Sydney 2000 in double trap, will be guiding the Indian shooters for the second time. The six-time Olympian was Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's personal coach when he won the Olympic silver medal in Athens in 2004. He also aided Ronjan Sodhi in achieving world No. 1 status and winning two ISSF World Cup gold medals in 2011.
The recruitment of such a well-known trap instructor comes after Indian trap shooters failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics last year. Despite recent success in pistol and rifle competitions, India's shotgun shooters have yet to equal Ronjan Sodhi or Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's achievements.
India's shotgun shooters have yet to win an individual medal at any of the three ISSF Shotgun World Cups held in 2022. Meanwhile, the men's trap teams have won two silver and one bronze medal. The ISSF Shotgun World Cup, which begins on May 27 in Baku, Azerbaijan, will be Russell's next task as the national trap coach.
