The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Masters championships get under way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 07, 2005

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Masters championships get under way

HYDERABAD, JAN. 6. Five Olympians and scores of internationals were in the fray for the Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi memorial masters shooting championships, that got under way at the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh range at the University of Hyderabad campus on Thursday.

At a press conference jointly addressed by Rajeev Bhatia, Secretary, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), A.K. Balashanmugham, Director of Competitions, Amit Sanghi, Secretary General of the Rifle Association of Andhra Pradesh, Prof. Sunny Thomas, Chief Coach of the national team, said the current championships was third in the series, after the Nationals and the Kumar Surendra Singh championships at Asansol that would be considered for selection of the Indian squad for the Commonwealth shooting championships at Melbourne, Australia from March 9 to 20.

National camp

On completion of the above event, two trials would also be held and the best four of five scores assessed to decide the composition of the national squad.

The aim was to keep this world-class venue active, by having competitions as frequently as possible. With this in view, a national camp would be conducted for the probables at this range from February 5 to 25 as also the National championships in December.

Notable absentees are Athens Games silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who's in the midst of training and Jaspal Rana, who's busy with a domestic engagement. The eight-day meet will be conducted in accordance with the new International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) rules that have come into force from New Year's Day.

The organisers struck a sombre note when they said the shooters were denied their full quota of ammunition for practice because the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had last imported it two years ago. Shelf-life of the existing stock being limited, accuracy and thereby performances were bound to be adversely affected, they warned. Consequently, it had to be strictly rationed. The clamour for international medals from these same officials was however unceasing, they added. — Our Special Correspondent