No 'conflict of interest' at play with Ronak Pandit's appointment as shooting high-performance manager, says NRAI

The appointment of former Indian shooter Ronak Pandit by the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) to work with young shooters came under some criticism recently, as there seemed to have been a possible case of conflict of interest.

The fact that he is the husband and personal coach of star shooter Heena Sidhu, and runs his own shooting academy in Mumbai, has not helped his cause with this regard, as reports suggested that he was being appointed as an observer for all rifle and pistol shooters.

However, when asked about the issue, NRAI treasurer Karan Kumar explained to Sportskeeda that Pandit has been offered a different role.

"We are not keeping him as an observer. He will be our high-performance manager," said Kumar.

"What we are trying to do is to make our kids shoot a little better, and put in a little more effort. How do you ensure that the kids are practising properly? How do we, the NRAI, get to know which shooter is performing well or otherwise in training? As a high-performance manager, he will report to us as to what is actually happening on the ground," he explained.

In fact, in his role as the high-performance manager, Pandit will not be given the power to take any decisions himself. He will merely be able to make suggestions to the NRAI.

"Its basically like an independent body, who will tell us what's happening. He will make his suggestions, but it is up to us to actually take the action," said Kumar.

Pandit, who had won gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, brings in bags of experience, as he has coached at the top level, and worked with young, talented shooters in his academy as well.