Manu Bhaker: Bringing shooting back in CWG will benefit India

Youth Olympics champion Manu Bhaker expressed happiness about shooting continuing to figure in the scheme of things in the Commonwealth Games to be staged in 2022.

NRAI president Raninder Singh, Sanjeev Rajput and Manu Bhaker who addressed the media in Delhi on Wednesday.

Commonwealth Games shooting gold medallists, the seasoned Sanjeev Rajput and the Youth Olympics champion Manu Bhaker, expressed happiness about shooting continuing to figure in the scheme of things in the Commonwealth Games to be staged in 2022, in a press conference addressed by the president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Raninder Singh, here on Wednesday.

‘’I felt sad when I got to know that shooting would no longer be part of the next Commonwealth Games. Now, thanks to the NRAI and IOA’s efforts, it is great news not just for the shooters but for the country, as we do really well in shooting in the Commonwealth Games’’ said Sanjeev Rajput.

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), in its Executive Board meeting in London from February 21 to 23, had approved the Indian proposal to hold separate shooting and archery Commonwealth competitions in Chandigarh in January 2022, prior to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham from July 27 to August 7.

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It was agreed that one week after the closing ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, the CGF would issue a medal table that includes results from the Chandigarh 2022 Commonwealth Archery and shooting championships, "as a further and final legitimate ranking of competing nations and territories from the respective competitions"

The CGF president, Dame Louise Martin was quoted as saying, ‘’I am delighted that we have approved India’s ambitious proposal to hold a Commonwealth Archery and shooting championships in Chandigarh during 2022, with the aim of strengthening Commonwealth Sport.

‘’I am thankful to the IOA and the NRAI for the efforts in bringing shooting back into the Commonwealth Games as it will benefit our country’’, said Manu Bhaker, the young pistol shooter who has been dominant on the world stage.

Looking at the World Cup in rifle, pistol and shotgun to be staged at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, here from March 15, the NRAI president said that Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Turkmenistan, North Korea apart from China had withdrawn for reasons relating to the outbreak of coronavirus. He also explained that Pakistan was not scheduled to compete in the World Cup.

The NRAI president clarified that all decisions with regard to the travel of Indian shooters abroad would be on the basis of the guidance from the Union Government and concerned agencies.