Joydeep Karmakar has resigned as India’s chief national rifle coach, sources confirmed to Sportstar on Monday.
The 2012 London Olympian was appointed as chief coach by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) in 2022 for a period of three years.
Karmakar was in charge of oversessing the preparation of the Indian rifle shooters in the ongoing Olympic cycle including the Paris Olympics and his contract was supposed to end in 2025.
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In a major blow to the NRAI, Karmakar is the third coach to tender his resignation after India’s trap coach Russell Mark and skeet coach Lauryn Mark, who was also the high-performance manager of the team, had resigned from their posts over delay in contract renewal.
Karmakar, who missed the bronze by a whisker in the 2012 London Olympics in the men’s 50 metre rifle prone event, is yet to make an official statement regarding his resignation.
The shooter announced his retirement from the sport after receiving his appointment as the chief rifle coach.
“I did not formally announce my retirement from the sport. But after receiving the confirmation of my appointment as the chief coach from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), I have decided to bring curtains on my career as a shooter,” Karmakar had said after his appointment.
“I feel I will be doing a better job in my new role as I personally didn’t have a coach ever since I started my career in 1989. I had to learn and unlearn many times from different experiences to reach my level of excellence.”