NRAI makes U-turn, two low-ranking shooters out of Worlds team

Vinayak Padmadeo

Ahmedabad, September 29

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has finally decided to withdraw from the World Championships team the entries of the two shooters who do not feature in the top-30 rankings list.

It is understood that a formal letter saying that the entries of Sanjeev Kumar Yadav and Vishwajeet Singh will be withdrawn will be sent to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) soon as the decision was taken this morning.

Further, the NRAI has decided not to name the shooters’ replacements in the centre-fire pistol event.

After The Tribune had highlighted the issue earlier this month, questions were raised within the NRAI about the manner of their selection. The SAI top brass also took notice and asked for an explanation in this matter.

The NRAI office bearers officially still maintain that there was no bias in the selection process as no shooter in the ranking list, except Omkar Singh whose expenses will be borne by the Navy, wanted to participate. The centre-fire pistol is a non-Olympics event, meaning the participants will not be funded by the Sports Ministry.

Some of the shooters and officials were shocked to know that Yadav was to take part in the mixed team event with Rhythm Sangwan as well. Their grouse was that it wasn’t the first time that Yadav was included in a team event. At the South Asian Games in Kathmandu in 2019, Yadav was a part of the 25m centre-fire pistol men’s team. The team had to settle for a silver medal after Yadav’s low score.