IPL-styled Indian shooting league to be launched in November

The national federation has a 11-day window allowed by world body ISSF to stage the Shooting League of India

New Delhi: Shooting will join India’s sports leagues this year. The inaugural edition of Shooting League of India will be held from November 20 to December 2 with eight teams, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Kalikesh Singh Deo said on Saturday after its governing body meeting. The teams will be divided into two pools for the league stage (Nov 21-26) with the top two teams advancing to the knockouts.

Indian shooter Manu Bhaker during the women's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Lima, Peru. Her two medals at the Paris Olympics has lifted the profile of Indian shooting. (PTI)

“All our partners and members have been signed on or agreed upon; we are in the process of registering various structures required for the governance of the league. NRAI will incubate the league but it will be run by professionals,” Deo said.

The first edition is likely be held in Delhi’s Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. It will feature all six Olympic disciplines — 10m air rifle, 10m air pistol, 25m sports pistol, 50m 3 Positions, trap and skeet. There will be six men and women in each team with a maximum of four foreigners. They will be grouped in four tiers — elite champions, world elite, national champions, and junior and youth champions — to lend balance.

“ISSF has sanctioned a window from November 20 for 11-12 days. This has been put on the ISSF calendar; a link for registry of international players is part of the same ISSF calendar document.” This year, it will be held between the world championships in Cairo and the year-ending Doha World Cup final.

Competitions will be in the mixed-team format. Efforts are on “to make the league palatable for the broadcasters” and NRAI is in touch with OTT platforms for a wider reach. Over 70 domestic and 40 international shooters have already signed up for SLI, Deo said.

“Mixed team formats make it exciting. Each franchise will play against the other across the six disciplines. The prize money will be substantially more than what any other shooting format has seen, is what we’re hoping. We are aiming to finish a match in 25-30 minutes so that the players are not taxed.”

NRAI is keen to adopt the city-based franchise model of IPL, ISL and PKL, which should be finalised by the first week of June.

A minimum of two Indian juniors (U-21) must be in the team, which is likely to be picked in an auction. The spending cap per team will be ₹1.20 crore.

“It’s only a 10-day event. There may be only four to five competitions to be played by a shooter,” Deo said.