CHENNAI: Delhi has been earmarked to host a shooting World Cup early next year as the ISSF, world shooting body, revealed the competition calendar for 2021.
The decision was taken during the ISSF Executive Committee meeting. National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh, also ISSF vice-president is a member of the committee.
Rajiv Bhatia, NRAI secretary, confirmed the development and said that the event is likely to be held in March. The competition will feature rifle, pistol and shotgun shooters.
"The World Cup could be conducted in the month of March. We are hopeful that we'll get a vaccine by then," Bhatia told this daily.
According to the ISSF, South Korea (Changwon), Azerbaijan (Baku), Egypt (Cairo) and Italy (Lonato) have been handed the responsibility to host the remaining World Cups in 2021.
"It was decided that the final tournament of the year 2021, with the participation of 12 best athletes in each individual Olympic discipline, would be held in the capital of Azerbaijan — Baku in the second half of October 2021," the ISSF wrote in its website.
The junior shooters will also have a lot to look forward to as the World Championships is set to be held in Peru (Las Palmas). The junior World Cups will be held in Germany (Suhl) and Kazakhstan (Almaty).
Moreover, the committee has also approved rule changes and a new ranking system. The technical changes, mostly in team events, will be included in the ISSF
Championships programme from next year. The ranking system will also be implemented from next year.
A World Cup in New Delhi, that was supposed to be held in March this year, had been postponed and subsequently owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Indian shooters have been currently training at their respective homes. Those in and around Delhi have been using the Dr Karni Shooting Range facilities.
The NRAI had planned to resume camp for Olympic core group but were forced to drop the idea with the ongoing pandemic showing no signs of relenting.