ISSF withdraws Olympic quotas from Delhi shooting World Cup

Vinayak Padmadeo
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, february 21

The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) president dropped a bombshell during the opening ceremony of the World Cup (rifle/pistol) here today.

During his customary statement to open the games, Vladimir Lisin announced that the Olympics quota places — 16 in number — will not be disbursed during the New Delhi event but will have to be redistributed in the other World Cups.

The decision, according to the ISSF president, was the fallout of two Pakistan shooters being denied visas after the Pulwama attack.

Pakistan’s National Rifle Association and National Olympic Committee had written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), requesting the global body to not disburse quota spots in the 25m Rapid Fire competition competition, in which the two Pakistan shooters were slated to compete.

“Pakistan’s participants could not get visas to come to this event. This is not the fault of the organising committee or the ISSF,” Lisin said. “We follow the Olympic Charter which says no athlete can be discriminated against. Due to this situation, the IOC informed us that this World Cup cannot be included in the competitions for Olympic quotas. In this case, the quotas will be redistributed to another World Cup. We have to follow the decision as the members of the Olympic family,” he added.

The Tribune has learnt that the ISSF president was told about the IOC decision while he was waiting for his turn to declare open the World Cup.

Hope floats

However, the National Rifle Association of India president, Raninder Singh, clarified that Lisin meant that “due to this unique situation, the quotas may have to be withdrawn”. “He didn’t say that,” Singh, who is also a vice-president in the ISSF, said. “He used the word may. He said ‘we may not be able to give out quota places’. He didn’t say withdrawn and you can take that clarification from the ISSF president, and the operating word is ‘may’,” he added. In fact, the NRAI president claimed that the national association has not received any information on the issue of withdrawal of quota places.