Construction work still on at CWG shooting range despite ‘inauguration’ 3 months back.
For all the money being spent on stadia for the Commonwealth Games, sportspersons are having to practice at private facilities just six months ahead of the event, even if their particular venue is purported to have been ready for long.
It is almost three months since the Karnail Singh shooting ranges were inaugurated amid much fanfare and almost two since the Commonwealth Championship was held in New Delhi. But Indian shooters are still not preparing at the refurbished venue that is being touted as the “best in the world.”
Though the ranges are in shape, building work including asphalted roads, is on. The marksmen are left making use of their time by preparing at different venues including private ranges.
“It will take another month for the venue to be available for shooters, so there is no point in announcing dates for new camps,” said former National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) secretary-general Baljit Singh Sethi.
“The pistol and rifle shooters are practising in Pune, the trap shooters are at Patiala while the skeet shooters are using a facility in Noida near here,” informed Sethi, whose official capacity (as secretary-general) has been under scrutiny following a public interest litigation preventing him from using the designation despite being in the thick of affairs.
While the majority of the marksmen are using the Balewadi ranges in Pune, ranges belonging to former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and industrialist and Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal are being used for trap and skeet, respectively.
Normally, the facilities are expected to be ready more than a year in advance. The Commonwealth Championship is mandated to be held one year before the Games, but that had not been possible here because of a delay in construction of the main shooting venue.
The big bore events of the Commonwealth Championship could not be held along with the main event as construction at the Kadarpur ranges in Gurgaon were delayed further. Shooting is the most high profile sport in the CWG from the Indian perspective because of the country’s domination in recent editions.
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