Bindra to skip Asian shooting event

Ace marksman Abhinav Bindra has decided to skip the Asian Olympic qualification shooting event, to be held here later this month, to give his other fellow countrymen a chance to qualify for the Rio Games.

Abhinav Bindra is the only Indian to have won an individual gold medal at the Olympics with his effort at Beijing 2008.

Ace marksman Abhinav Bindra has decided to skip the Asian Olympic qualification shooting event, to be held here later this month, to give his other fellow countrymen a chance to qualify for the Rio Games.

The competition to be held at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here from January 25 to February 3 is an Olympic qualification event and Bindra has already earned a quota place for Rio Games.

“My absence will give others a chance to win an Olympic quota for India. I am also not shooting in the Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) category as it makes no sense to me,” Bindra, who won a gold medal in men’s 10m air rifle event in 2008 Beijing Olympics, was quoted as saying by a website.

The final 35 Rio Olympics quota places for Asian nations will be up for grabs at the event, across three shooting disciplines of shotgun, rifle and pistol.

Apart from Bindra, the other two quota winners for India, Apurvi Chandela and Mairaj Khan will also not be seen in action.

Hosts India have registered 64 shooters including quota winners Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai, Prakash Nanjappa, Chain Singh and Gurpreet Singh. Vijay Kumar, Heena Sidhu and Manavjit Sandhu are also part of the Indian team.