Govt. has asked us to stick to norms

The Indian team for the Commonwealth shooting championship to be staged in the Capital here in February may not have the best names, but that has not cut much ice with the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).

Asked to respond to the reports in a section of the media that the sports ministry had asked for fresh trials for the shotgun marksmen who had refused to continue with the second trials in Patiala recently, the secretary general of NRAI, Baljit Singh Sethi said that it was news to him, as he had not heard anything from the government.

Recovering from a bout of severe hiccups back home in Kottayam, National coach Prof. Sunny Thomas, stated that the shotgun marksmen had precipitated matters by boycotting the trials.
Indiscipline

“There is a way to protest. They should have continued under protest. This was indiscipline, and everyone will start doing this if we accept such things”, said Prof. Thomas.

Interestingly, the shotgun trials were originally scheduled to be held in Pune or Bangalore, and it was the shotgun shooters who had requested that the trials be held in Patiala during the National championship as they raved about the range.

“There was a problem with the machines, but it was rectified”, said Prof. Thomas.

Both the National coach and the secretary general of NRAI insisted that the selection norms had been publicised months in advance, and everyone was clear that the scores of the National championship and the two trials would be considered.

“For the air gun shooters, we also took into account their performance in the Asian Air Gun championship in Doha in December. If there were four scores, we took the best three and if there were three scores, we took the best two”, said Prof. Thomas.

They argued that it would be unfair to go back, after everything was finalised. The team for the Commonwealth Championship and the first two World Cups of the season were decided by the selection committee.

The teams for the World Cups have not been announced, as there is a lot of time left for the same.