New Delhi: Double Paralympic medallist shooter Singhraj Adhana will not be a part of the Indian contingent for the Paris Paralympic Games because of a change in competition rules by the International Paralympic Committee post the 2021 Tokyo edition.
The 42-year-old Singhraj had won silver in the mixed 50m pistol SH1 and bronze in the 10m air pistol SHI category. The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) selection panel for shooting met on Tuesday and decided that though nine Paris quota places had been bagged by the country's para shooters, only eight would board the flight to Paris.
"Although we have secured nine quota places for the Paris Paralympics, as per our PCI selection policy and World Shooting Para Sports (WSPS) guidelines, only eight shooters will be able to participate, so we will have to surrender one quota of Singhraj," the minutes of the PCI selection committee meeting stated.
JP Nautiyal, the PCI chairman for shooting sport told PTI that at the Tokyo Paralympics, every country was eligible to field a maximum of three shooters per event but in Paris, the number has been reduced to two, "which has forced the PCI to take this extremely painful decision to surrender the quota of shooting stalwart Singhraj."
"Rudransh Khandelwal (50m pistol SH1), Nihal Singh will represent the country in 25m pistol. In 10m air pistol P1, while Singhraj has bagged the quota, Manish Narwal and Rudransh are currently on top. In para shooting, if you bag a quota in any particular event, you can play in three different events. Singhraj and Manish Narwal had won quota places in 10m air pistol," said Nautiyal.
"In 25m sports pistol P3, Nijhal Singh is currently on top, while Army man Amir Ahmed Butt is second and both have bagged Paris Paralympic quotas," he said.
"In 50m pistol, we have only got one quota through Rudransh Khandelwal, and he is currently on top based on ranking, while the second player in the category is Nihal Singh. So, we had no choice but to surrender one quota," said Nautiyal. National para shooting coach, Subhash Rana though said Singhraj had been kept as a reserve just in case some shooter fell sick or "some unforeseen circumstances".
Rana also said that the PCI has applied for two bipartite (wildcard) spots for Rubina Francis (women's 10m air pistol SH1), who has a world ranking of No.2, and Swaroop Unhalkar (men's 10m air rifle SH1).
"Rubina missed winning the quota by a fraction of a point, so we have applied for a wildcard for her and Swaroop. Looking at their previous international performances and present world rankings, they have a bright chance to get wildcards and win medals in Paris."
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