Selection for Tokyo Olympics to be made purely on merit: NRAI president

NRAI president Raninder Singh said that interest of the nation would be foremost in fielding the best shooters in each event.

NRAI president, Raninder Singh said he was disappointed that the National championship was not held any time before the Olympics, owing to the prevailing situation in the country.

The president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Raninder Singh, assured merit-based selection of the Indian shooting team for the Tokyo Olympics when he addressed the media at the end of the World Cup here on Sunday.

"The selection will be purely based on merit. The interest of the nation would be foremost in fielding the best shooters in each event. We have all data available. We will take an informed decision”, asserted the NRAI president.

The selection committee meeting is expected to be held on April 3 or 4. It was also announced that there would be reserve shooters who will be given the same level of training as the Olympic bound shooters in the run-up to the Games.

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Raninder was happy with how the young Indian shooters responded to the opportunity of competing in the World Cup at home. He said that efforts would be made to have ‘’regular international engagements’’.

On the safety and health front, Raninder said that he was looking at the Indian shooters training in a bio-bubble in due course of time.

He expressed anguish about the National championship not being held any time before the Olympics, owing to the prevailing situation in the country.

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Conceding that the health of Indian shooting was primarily because of the emergence of young talent through the national championship, Raninder said that the system was missing a fresh batch for the second year running. The National championship could not be held in 2020 owing to the pandemic.