The national shooting federation is fearing that the country might have actually lost ground.
Even as officials of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) harp on ‘home advantage for next year’s Commonwealth Games, the national shooting federation is fearing that the country might have actually lost ground.
“We could have had an advantage if the ranges had been built in time. Had they been handed over to us at least a year before the Games (by October this year), we would have thought so,” said the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) secretary-general, Baljit Singh Sethi. “But I don’t see the ranges being in place before next year. It takes six to eight wickets for fixing electronic gadgets after the basic structure is in place. Getting it ready for the Commonwealth Championships in February might itself prove to be a challenge,” added Sethi.
The Commonwealth Championships, which are stipulated to be held at least one year before the Commonwealth Games, were postponed by four months because of the delay in construction and will now be held from February 20 to 28, 2010.
“The home advantage is when shooters get to practise on the ranges over a period of time, otherwise it is like going to any other venue and shooting,” he opined. “I am afraid there will be little advantage in such a situation. The World Cup Olympic quotas will be up for grabs from March next year and if we are to look for immediately after the Commonwealth Games, what do we stand to gain from the infrastructure? As for the CWG, I doubt if we will be able to manage something like the 16 gold medals we won last time.”
Shooting has been the highest grosser for India in recent editions of the Games. India won 14 gold, seven silver and three bronze medals at the 2002 Games in Manchester. In Melbourne, the tally was 16 gold and seven silver medals. The inability to retain good coaches because they were not satisfied with contracts offered to them has also been a setback. “We are in a desperate situation as regards coaches. I think we should be worrying that we could have actually lost the initiative this time around,” Sethi concluded.
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