‘Sunny Thomas knew how to motivate young shooters: Samaresh Jung
File photo of former India shooter Samaresh Jung. (Image: X)
Bengaluru: Former shooting stars
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
,
Gagan Narang
and 'Goldfinger'
Samaresh Jung
mourned the
demise of celebrated coach Sunny Thomas
. They hailed him as the 'Godfather of Indian shooting' who was the bridge between the shooters and the national federation.
'There was one instance during a national camp in 2000-01 in Bangalore when five of us — Jaspal Rana, Ved Prakash, Satendra Kumar, Vivek Singh and I — got our heads shaved. This was after
Sunny Thomas
had jokingly told us that if the five of us went bald, then he would too.
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'In the evening, we went to the dining hall with our heads shaved. He was sitting there. He packed up his dinner, washed his hands and simply walked out. After 15 minutes, he returned. He had shaved his head,' former pistol ace Jung told TOI, giving an example of the bond between top shooters and the national coach Thomas.
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'Most of the credit for all the superb performances can be traced back to the process that began during his time,' Jung said. 'As he was a college professor, he knew how to handle the young shooters.'
Rathore added: 'He knew the sport intricately, he knew shooters very well. Most shooters in India have worked with him one time or the other. It's a loss to the sport of shooting.'
London bronze medallist Narang said: 'Sunny sir was like the Godfather of
Indian shooting
.'
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