What's the story?
The inspection committee from the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is all set to visit the Karni Shooting Range on January 25, in Delhi for the World Cup scheduled to be held next month. The national selections begin with senior members such as multiple Olympic veteran Manavjit Singh Sandhu highlighting the event. However, with just two days to go for the inspection, the ongoing trials in Pune are being conducted without any dope tests. This particular absence has angered the shooting fraternity, Olympians and first timers alike.
Rio Olympian Jitu Rai told Sportskeeda, “It should happen, there is no reason for it not to happen. The stakes are very high in sport now, it just creates a level playing field. I'm just concentrating on my game and remaining focussed.”
Another senior shooter stated,”Have you ever heard of an event where there are no dope tests taking place? Our sport is high risk high reward sport, people are also willing to take that risk as they will win more. Hence, if someone who is aware of the current situation, can manipulate his or her way to a selection spot using banned substances. Its not a long time back that we saw a 3-4 before the Rio Olympics. Why taint India again?”
Upon contacting the National Rifle Authority of India (NRAI), a senior official said, “This is not the main qualifier, after this there will be a further cut-down for the team that is going to go overseas. We are going ahead with out normal routine and the visiting inspection committee will not have a problem.”
The ISSF were unavailable for a comment on the issue, but this particular move has definitely angered national level players who feel a dope testing mechanism should be put in place for an event as big as this.
In case you didn't know
Despite boasting of one of the largest sporting contingents within India's Rio Olympic squad, the shooting team returned empty handed for the first time since 2000. Questions were raised against the governing body leading to an Abhinav Bindra led panel, which attempted to revitalise the existent structure.
Points such as focus on junior shooters within the selections would be given a priority were already raised. A revolutionary move to introduce new genres including mixed events was also proposed, and is likely to be implemented in the World Cup edition in February.
Heart of the Matter
According to the official, the selection panel confirmed a 70 % weightage on this particular event. However, there was no mention of a further categorisation. He added, “ We should be looking for the top shooters for now, the next shortlist will any way filter out culprits, if there are any.”
It remains a mystery whether the ISSF inspection committee will notice a potential lapse in basic sporting infrastructure, during their visit.
NRAI Chief, Raninder Singh echoed the words of our source, he said, “There will be a dope test at the next reduction when the international selection will happen.”
Sportskeeda's Take
It is quite absurd why a selection process for an internation events, does not fall under a systematic doping process. This could be a major roadblock ahead of India's marquee shooting event in February.
