NRAI advocates for inclusion of three more shooters for Asian Games
To increase India's chances of winning a medal at the Asian Games, the National Rifle Association of India has asked the Sports Ministry to add the three shotgun shooters to the Asian Games delegation; skeet marksman Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and women's trap shooters Manisha Keer and Preeti Rajak.
All three shooters were recommended for inclusion in the contingent by the NRAI in its preliminary list for the Asian Games, which will begin on September 23 in Hangzhou, China, but the ministry took their names off the final list released last week.
At the current ISSF World Championships in Baku, Angad Vir met the qualification standard established by the ministry, while the team of Manisha, Preeti, and Rajeshwari Kumari placed sixth in the team trap competition.
Following their success in Baku, the women's trap team is currently rated fifth in the world and second in Asia, behind China. At the World Championships, Rajeshwari also won a Paris Olympic quota for the nation. Now that Angad has scored 121 in the World Championships and met the qualification standard set by the ministry, which was an eight-place finish in the last Asian Games, the NRAI has requested that the government clean his name as well as the names of the two female trap shooters.
“We are trying to get the names of Manisha, Preeti and Angad cleared from the ministry for the Asian Games. The representation is already with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials. We are struggling or fighting to get these three names cleared,” NRAI secretary Rajeev Bhatia told PTI on Monday.