MUMBAI: The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has reportedly given the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) till August to secure assurances from the Centre that it will be in compliance with the Olympic Charter.
If the NRAI is not able to get the government’s sign-off on this, then the ISSF will likely move the 2020 World Cup out from New Delhi,Times of India reports.
The diktat from the ISSF is a fallout of the NRAI’s inability to secure visas for two Pakistani shooters (and a manager) who had qualified to compete in the World Cup in New Delhi last month.
As a result, the two Olympic-qualifying quotas originally allotted to the World Cup in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event (in which the Pakistani shooters were to compete) were removed. It bears noting that the IOC’s decision hit the three Indians who were competing in the event as well
Subsequent to that, the IOC executive board decided to suspend all discussions with the Indian Olympic Association and government regarding the potential applications for hosting future sports and Olympic-related events in India. The IOC further declared that “until clear written guarantees were obtained from the Indian government to ensure the entry of all participants in such events in full compliance with the rules of the Olympic Charter”, international federations were to neither award nor hold sports events in India.
Meanwhile, the two quota places removed from India ave been reassigned. The next World Cup will be held in Beijing from 21-28 April, followed by Munich from 24-31 May next year. Effectively it means that there will be three Olympic quota places in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event available for grabs in each of these two World Cups.
