NRAI to hold state, zonal meets before Nationals

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 22

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has pushed forward the dates for the National Championships. The shooting body had earlier announced its plans to hold the shotgun Nationals in November and the rifle and pistol Nationals in December. However, after discussions, NRAI has decided to ask its affiliates to hold the state championships and zonal meets before the Nationals.

The decision to this effect was taken after a meeting of NRAI’s governing body today. This essentially means that there is a slim possibility of the Nationals being held this year.

The primary reason for this change was non-involvement of fresh talent as it was previously decided to invite only last year’s qualified shooters for the Nationals.

NRAI president Raninder Singh assured that the fresh dates will be announced in a fortnight. “We had to reassess as holding the Nationals in a month would mean we had to do without fresh talent. So we have decided to come out with a calendar of sorts for state and zonal meets before holding our national championships. Once we ratify the dates we will be in a position to announce new dates of the Nationals soon,” Singh told The Tribune today.

Trials

While there will be no national meets, the general body discussed the possibility of holding trials to keep the competition alive amongst the Indian squad shooters. NRAI’s sub-committee has to work out all the plans, including the dates, which will be then discussed with the technical committee before announcing the dates. Importantly, the trials will be an important parameter for the selection of the Indian team before the start of next year’s World Cups, starting with the ISSF Shotgun in Cairo, Egypt.

“Trials will have to be held. We instructed the sub-committee to take the inputs from coaches, shooters and other stakeholders before deciding on the dates,” he said.