Walther Cup shooting off as NRAI goofs up

After the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) withdrew its bid to host the World Cup, Indian shooting suffered another blow when the national shooting body scrapped its highest prize money tournament.

Walther Open 2009, which offered the highest prize money (3,000 euros), was scheduled to be held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, on October 8 and 9. The tournament got cancelled after the sponsors (Walther) backed out when they didn’t receive a written consent to conduct the tournament from NRAI.

The organisers blame it on petty politics in the NRAI. “We had approached NRAI seeking their support and approval for the competition of this stature, designed for the interest of the shooters. The NRAI insisted for a letter from Walther for their support. But even after sending letters to NRAI and following it up for many days with the national body, Walther did not get any response,” alleged Indian shooter Shimon Sharif, who had managed to rope in Walther, a German gun manufacturing company to sponsor the tournament.

Interestingly, Walther guns were used by Abhinav Bindra at the Beijing Olympics where the Indian shooter had won the country’s first-ever individual gold. The gun was also used by Gagan Narang, who shot the world record.

In a letter to NRAI, Walther’s managing director Karl Walther wrote, “As we got no direct reactions or answer from you (NRAI) to our letter sent on September 21 and 22, we have to rely on the latest information that the NRAI doesn’t sanction this tournament. In view of the whole unfavourable situation and in order that we don’t want to jeopardise our future relationship, we have decided to cancel the competition.”

The letters goes on to say, “As a sponsor we didn’t expect to have such great problems with the Indian organising structure.” DNA has a copy of the letter.

Apart from being the highest prize money shooting event in India, a team of Walther experts were also supposed to visit the event and provide free service and repairs of the shooting rifles and pistols.

“NRAI also gave strong signals to Walther through its sources that they are not interested in supporting the event. They tried their level best to destroy this event by making announcements in their ongoing camp at Pune. They warned the shooters that ‘who ever will play this event will be debarred’. They also announced the cancellation of this event two days back even when they were not authorised to do so. This resulted in tremendous confusion among the shooters,” Sharif said.

When contacted, NRAI vice president Avtar Sethi said, “The decision to conduct a tournament should come through the working party as they are the ones who prepare the yearly calendar. Holding such a tournament needs consent from the national body.”