NEW DELHI: The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), in collaboration with the Mobile Premier League (MPL), has announced it will release a mobile version of a non-violent shooting game, with ISSF style trap and skeet formats, on August 15.
The partnership follows on from the last month’s announcement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that it was partnering with five international sports federations and game publishers to produce the Olympic Virtual Series (OVS), the first-ever, Olympic-licensed event for physical and non-physical virtual sports.
NRAI president Raninder Singh said: “We welcome the IOC’s move to introduce virtual Esport versions of real world physical sport in the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series. We are sure this will encourage people to take up these sports virtually and potentially chart a way for them to emerge as champions in the physical sport.”
Welcoming the initiative, Olympic medallist Gagan Narang shared: “India has never had a dearth of talent in shooting, and the recently concluded World Cup is a strong validation of the potential. As I have realized, technology is increasingly playing an important role in improving player performances, and gamifying the experience by initiatives as envisioned by NRAI and ably supported by MPL will not only amplify player engagement, but critically increase fan awareness about competitive sports. India needs many more such interventions across sports.”
Singh opined that the “online engagement” will “feed into offline interest which in turn will open the doors of our sport to many more”.
MPL co-founder and CEO Sai Srinivas added, “This is a monumental step taken by IOC to introduce the first ever Olympic-licensed virtual series. NRAI was already a first mover in recognizing the potential for e-shooting. Esports has witnessed a meteoric rise in India over the past few years and is recognized as a proper sporting career path in many regions of the world. An IOC-approved tournament announced before the Olympics will certainly help Esports get its due and encourage people to consider it as a professional option.”
For the record, the following international federations and gaming publishers will be part of the Olympic Virtual Series:
– World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) – eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020, Konami Digital Entertainment
– Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Zwift, Zwift inc.
– World Rowing – Open format
– World Sailing – Virtual Regatta, Virtual Regatta SAS
– Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) – Gran Turismo, Polyphony Digital
Building on the success of their respective events, both the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), along with other international federations such as the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and World Taekwondo (WT) have confirmed their commitment to exploring inclusion in future editions of the OVS.
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