2008 Beijing Olympics Gold medalist Abhinav Bindra has decided to withdraw from the Asian Olympic qualification competition, scheduled to take place between the 25th of January and 3rd of February in New Delhi.
The 33-year-old has decided to skip the event as he wants to provide other shooters an opportunity to clinch a quota for Rio 2016.
“My absence will give others a chance to win an Olympic quota for India. Am also not shooting in the Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) category as it makes no sense to me,” The Dehradun-born shooter was quoted as saying to a website.
Bindra has already booked a spot for Rio 2016 after finishing 6th in the 10m Air Rifle final at the ISSF World Cup in Munich in May and won a Gold in his pet event at the Asian Airgun Championships in September.
Along with Bindra, the only Indian women shooter yet to have qualified for Rio-Apurvi Chandela and India’s first ever skeet qualifier Mairaj Ahmed Khan will also not participate in the event.
Three other shooters- Gagan Narang, Gurpreet Singh and Prakash Nanjappa- will compete only in the Minimum Qualification Score(MQS) category. This is a key event for the likes of Heena Sidhu, Vijay Kumar and Manavjit Sandhu who will look to seal a berth and thereby further strengthen an already impressive looking Indian contingent for the Olympics.
