Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra has decided to miss the finals of the 59th National Shooting Championship which got underway at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi on Wednesday.
With two Olympic medallists – Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang – the Men’s 10m Air Rifle finals is the showcase event of the National Championships but with Bindra’s absence this time the finals will lose some of its sheen.
Abhinav Bindra tweeted, “Due to personal reasons which require me to travel I will not be able to complete my full competition at the national championships. I will however complete my qualification round on one of the days and fulfill the NRAI┬ánorms for selection etc”.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has made the National Championship the most important event in the calendar by keeping the scores achieved in the competition as the foundation for national selection.
Around 3500 shooters will be seen in action in the two week long competition that began today with the Men 10m Air Pistol, 50m Free Pistol and Women 25m Sports Pistol events.