NEW DELHI: Fear of the coronavirus has led to the withdrawal of six countries from next month’s shooting World Cup to be held in New Delhi, while Pakistan — as reported earlier — has withdrawn due to other reasons according to National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh. The likes of China, the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as bordering nations like Taiwan, Hong Kong will not participate.
“There were a few countries who were willing to come down but their national policies dictated that they could not travel overseas. China has taken a wise decision on their own as a nation. They don’t want to infect others and hence won’t travel. Neighbouring countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, North Korea have locked down their entire islands. Turkmenistan has also backed out because of their national policy,” the NRAI chief told reporters.
Last year at the World Cup, India did not issue visas to two Pakistan shooters leading to International Olympic Committee (IOC) sanctions on hosting international meets in the country. This year, Pakistan has informed India that they want to focus on training rather than competing in the World Cup. “There is no connection from last year’s events. Pakistan was never coming. They have two athletes who have qualified for pistol events for the Olympics and they want to train with their new coach in Germany during this period, the Pakistan shooting federation’s executive vice president has informed me,” Raninder said.
After the World Cup, there is also the small matter of the Indian shooting contingent travelling to Tokyo for the Olympic Test event slated to take place from April 16 to 26. NRAI is undecided on whether to allow the team to travel. “The team has been chosen but we are yet to decide whether to send them or not. I’m not going to risk any of those kids. If we receive any advice from any of the stakeholders — the IOA, the international federations, our own mission in Tokyo or even if by our own assessment we feel there’s a threat, it isn’t worth the risk. We are also not allowing our shooters to travel overseas to train as well,” he said. Raninder also praised the decision of the Commonwealth Games Federation to allow for the hosting of a Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships in India in January of 2022 prior to the main event taking place in Birmingham later that year.
Tokyo Olympics on, say organisers
Tokyo: The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are going ahead, organisers said on Wednesday, even as the government called for major events in coming weeks to be postponed, cancelled or scaled back over the new coronavirus. The fate of the Summer Games has been in the spotlight as the outbreak of COVID-19 forces the cancellation and delays in Japan of everything from football matches to the rituals that mark the opening of the March sumo tournament. But organisers have been at pains to insist that Olympics and Paralympics scheduled for the summer are not in danger of being scrapped. “We have not thought about it. We have not heard about it. We have made inquiries, and we were told there is no such plan,” Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto told reporters. “Our basic thinking is to conduct the Olympics and Paralympics as planned.”