IOC deals big blow to Olympic hopes of Indian shooters

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk,SportsCafe Editor

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has revoked the Olympic Qualification status for next month’s Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait, dealing a big blow to the hopes of shooters from the continent looking to use the meet to make the cut for next year’s Rio Olympics. The IOC’s decision came after an Israeli delegate was denied visa to enter the country.

“Upon request of the International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF), the IOC Executive Board on Friday revoked the Olympic qualification status of the Asian Shooting Championship taking place in Kuwait City between 1 and 12 November,” an IOC statement said.

“The decision comes after the designated technical delegate from the ISSF, Yair Davidovich (Israel), who was due to supervise the event on behalf of the ISSF, was denied a visa by the Kuwaiti Immigration Department.”

India’s shooters are among the worst hit by IOC’s decision. “Feel bad for the athletes competing at the Asian championships in Kuwait. No quotas on offer until another championship,” India’s Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra tweeted.

Bindra is one of only eight shooters from India to have so far qualified for Rio. The others are Jitu Rai, Gagan Narang, Apurvi Chandela, Gurpreet Singh, Prakash Nanjappa, Chain Singh and Mairaj Khan.

A total of 57 Indian shooters have travelled to Kuwait. More than 40 countries are participating in the Championship. The ISSF is expected to schedule another qualification event as a replacement for the Asian meet.

Each nation can earn a maximum of 30 quota places in the 15 shooting events to be held in the Summer Olympics, and a total of 390 athletes will participate in these events.

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