It’s final. No Indian shooter will be able to compete in the Commonwealth Championship full-bore event, scheduled from April 20 to 23, at the Kadarpur Range in Gurgaon.
Till Thursday, the only hope for the Indians was to borrow the rifles from foreign participants. But on Friday, it was known that it wouldn’t be possible, as there are only 17 entries in the individual event and the number of lanes at the Rs 25 crore range are 20. So, there will be only one series with all the 17 shooters firing simultaneously.
Full-bore is an event at the Commonwealth Games and two medals, individual and team, are at stake. But here in the Commonwealth Championship, there are four medals - two in big-bore and an equal number in full-bore - to be won.
With participation in full-bore out of question, the Indian contingent will only compete for two medals in big-bore.
HT had reported earlier that the government had failed to place the order for rifles in time, resulting in this faux pas. The full-bore individual event will take place on April 20 and 21. On the first day, the shooters will fire at targets placed at a distance of 300, 500 and 600 yards and on the second day they will take aim at targets 900 and 1000 yards away. The team event is scheduled for April 22 and 23.
All that the Indian team can do is fire on the first day of full-bore with their big-bore rifles, which can of hit targets at 300 and 500 yards. But for the concluding day, their weapons don’t have the range to hit target at 900 and 1000 yards.
{{/usCountry}}All that the Indian team can do is fire on the first day of full-bore with their big-bore rifles, which can of hit targets at 300 and 500 yards. But for the concluding day, their weapons don’t have the range to hit target at 900 and 1000 yards.
{{/usCountry}}The government had placed orders for four full-bore rifles a few days ago but, since they are custom-built, it will take at least a month for them to arrive in India.