New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) New Delhi has been granted hosting rights of the Combined ISSF World Cup, to be held before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the development underlining India’s growing stature in shooting sport.
The International Shooting Sport Federation’s Combined World Cup involves events in rifle, pistol and shotgun.
This would be the seventh continental or global multi-nation shooting competition to be staged in the country since 2012.
The decision was taken in principle at the ISSF’s ongoing Executive Committee meeting in Vienna and conveyed to National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh, who attended the meeting.
A formal intimation by the ISSF will follow soon.
Thrilled at the development, Raninder said, “We are extremely grateful to the ISSF president and the entire executive committee for reposing faith on the country’s and NRAI’s ability to hold such big and important world level competitions.
“We shall not only not disappoint as usual but also exceed expectations. Such events help grow the sport in our country further and boosts the chances of our shooting athletes, both in terms of gaining confidence by competing with the world’s best at home and also in terms of gaining more spots in important competitions away from home, like the Olympics.”
The capital’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range will also host next year’s first ISSF World Cup stage for rifle and pistol events in February, which will be a quota event for the Tokyo Olympics.
Raninder added, “A big thank you also to the Government of India who have always been supportive and not the least to team NRAI and the entire shooting fraternity of the country for delivering to their tasks and creating new benchmarks in performance standards.”
Since 2012, the year current president started his tenure, it would be the seventh major continental or global multi-nation shooting competition to be staged in the country.
Among the major events hosted by India are the ISSF Combined World Cup in 2017, Asian Olympic competition before the Rio Games in January 2016 and the prestigious season-ending World Cup Finals.