NRAI's 75th Year: Aims to Train 7.5 Lakh Students in Shooting Sports

The celebrations began here at the hallowed Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range (DKSSR) Finals Hall, with a ceremonial cake-cutting in the presence of Pawankumar Singh, Secretary General, NRAI, Rajiv Bhatia, Secretary, NRAI, Jitu Rai, Khel Ratna Awardee, Mansher Singh, Arjuna Awardee and Chief Shotgun Coach of Team India and double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker, besides shooters, coaches and support staff of the national shooting squad and the National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) for shooting sports.

Speaking on the occasion, Pawankumar Singh said, "The NRAI came into being on this day back in 1951 with eminent Freedom Fighter, Parliamentarian, and the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Shri. G.V. Mavalankar, as its first President. We feel very proud that several Freedom Fighters, such as former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, G.B. Pant, the first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Yashwantrao Chavan, the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra, were among the first pillars of this institution. Shooting shines brightest today in winning medals for the country, and it makes us even happier that we can take forward their legacy in a way that honours their ideals and their blessings."

Providing details of the celebrations planned in the coming days. Singh said, "We have year-long celebrations planned. To begin with, we have set a target of introducing 7.5 lac (7,50,000) new school students to Shooting, where we will either visit their schools or call them to the nearest range and make them shoot 10 shots each. We will take the help of the Government, the Ministry of Sports, as well as all the Shooting Academies and even Local Shooting Clubs across the cities and districts of the country, in order to achieve this goal.

"This will help unearth new natural talent. Apart from this, we plan to felicitate all the Arjuna, Khel Ratna, Dronacharya awardees and Olympic medalists in Shooting during the National Championships, as well as the State Awardees during the State Championships. Finally, during the ISSF World Cup Olympic quota event next year in Delhi, we plan to host an exhibition match between our Olympic medalists, past and present," he added.

Shooting is one of India's most successful Olympic sports with a tally of one gold, two silver, and four bronze medals won over the years. Abhinav Bindra also won India's first individual Olympic gold at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, winning the men's 10m air rifle event. In the most recent Paris 2024 Olympics, half of India's six medals came from Shooting, with Manu Bhaker returning with two bronze medals.

- IANS