Abhinav Bindra has confirmed that he will not be participating in the Asian Olympic qualification competition to be held at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, New Delhi, from January 25 to February 3rd.
This is the last chance for the Indian shooters to win a quota and Bindra has already earned a quota place for 2016 Rio Olympics.
Speaking exclusively to indianshooting.com, Abhinav Bindra said, “My absence will give others a chance to win an Olympic quota for India. Am also not shooting in the Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) category as it makes no sense to me”.
Not only Bindra but some of the other big names like current Olympic and World champion Jong Oh Jin of Korea will also be giving this competition a miss. World’s best pistol shooter Jong Oh had competed in the Asian Shooting Championship at Kuwait in November.
“I am not going for the Olympic Qualification competition in Delhi, Korean shooters who do not have a quota are going for this competition”, Jong Oh Jin told indianshooting.com.
China top shooters including current World champion and World No. 1 men air rifle, Yang Haoran, multiple Olympic medallist in men air rifle Zhu Qinan and current Olympic champion and World No. 1 women air rifle shooter Yi Siling have also not been registered for the competition.
However, China, who had not participated in the 8th Asian Airgun Championship, held at the same venue in September, will be sending a 15-member team out of which 12 are in the shotgun events while the other 3 shooters will be competing in the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone.
Apart from Bindra, the other two quota winners for India, Apurvi Chandela and Mairaj Khan will also not be seen in action.
India has registered 64 shooters including quota winners Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai, Prakash Nanjappa, Chain Singh and Gurpreet Singh for this competition. Top shooters Vijay Kumar, Heena Sidhu and Manavjit Sandhu are also part of the Indian team.
Gagan, Chain and Gurpreet will only be shooting in the MQS category.