CHENNAI: After days of uncertainty and ambiguous statements from both the Sports Authority of
India (SAI) and the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the training camp for the Olympic core group shooters will be held at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi from October 15 to December 14.
Just a few days ago, within hours of NRAI cancelling the national camp, the SAI announced a camp for elite shooters. The SAI in a statement on Thursday said that the camp would be held for 32 shooters (18 men and 14 women), eight coaches, three foreign coaches and two support staff.
All the 15 Olympic quota winners will be a part of the camp, which will take place at a cost of Rs 1.43 crore. This time, however, the NRAI is on board.
NRAI president Raninder Singh told The New Indian Express that there was no ambiguity from their side because the two camps (one announced by SAI and national camp) are different. "The national camp is different and it involves a bigger number of players," he said.
"So in terms of logistics, it's a big challenge because of quarantine norms. Now the SAI has announced a camp for core shooters and this was done in consultation with us too. There is no conflict between us. Our team and theirs work together objectively," he added.
The NRAI president said that the camp would start from October 15 and all players and officials would be staying in a hotel. Earlier, during a discussion between the SAI and the NRAI, staying at different locations has been an issue. SAI has been insisting that all players and coaches must stay in a bio-bubble.
However, this time all players, coaches and support staff will be staying in a hotel. "Players will be arriving by October 15 with COVID negative certificates and will go into self-isolation in a hotel," said Raninder.
"All of them will be staying in a bio-secure bubble following SAI SOP. There will be a one-week break from November 11," he added. The shooters will be congregating on November 18 and the camp will continue for a month.
Raninder said that the course of coaching will be decided by the coaches. "They will decide as to how much physical or mental training shooters will require and will chalk out the programme accordingly," he said.
Another aspect the NRAI has been focussing on is holding national competitions for junior and senior shooters at the earliest. The NRAI president said that nationals will be held in a segregated manner. "We want to host nationals. Of course we will organise maintaining all norms as laid out in the SOP," he said. The dates will be finalised later.