Russell and Lauryn Mark appointed India's new shotgun coaches
Russell Mark, a legendary Australian Olympic shooter, will be the next trap coach for the Indian shooting team. Russell will be accompanied by his Olympian wife Lauryn Mark, who has been named the high-performance manager for the Indian shotgun team; while Juan Giha will be the skeet coach.
Juan Giha, a six-time Olympian and silver medalist in the men's skeet at the 1992 Barcelona Games, will be the country's new skeet coach. They all will be coaching their assignments starting in April, with the Shotgun World Cup in Italy from April 19 to 29 serving as their first task.
According to sources, all three have been given contracts through the 2024 Paris Olympics, with an annual evaluation of their coaching abilities included. Russell is thought to be a huge deal for India's National Rifle Association (NRAI). He also coached former Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to silver in the double trap at the Athens Games in 2004. He also taught Ronja Sodhi, the former World No. 1 double trap shooter, to two ISSF World Cup gold medals.
Lauryn is a three-time gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games and a two-time Olympian, having finished fourth in the women's skeet event in the Athens Olympics.
Juan has mentored numerous professional shooters and has been to several places. He was named India's coach in 2001 and has taught shooters such as Amardeep Rai, Manavjit Sandhu, Sarvdeep Mann, Aarti Singh, and others. In 2003, however, he was fired without cause due to a lack of results.