The National Rifle Association of India has pulled out of the ISSF Shotgun World Cup that is scheduled to be held in Nicosia (Cyprus) from 4 March 2020 to 13 March 2020. The NRAI has taken this step keeping in mind the health advisory issued by the Government of India due to the corona virus which is spreading in many parts of the world.
The Indian shooting team for the tournament in Cyprus included shooters like Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Shreyasi Singh, Lakshya Sheoran, Angad Veer Singh Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmed Khan. Indian shooters were to leave in two batches on March 2 and 4.
It is to be noted that no cases of corona virus have been confirmed in Cyprus yet, but suspected cases have been isolated as a precaution.
India will also host the ISSF joint World Cup at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range from March 16 to 26. However, due to the corona virus, seven countries have withdrawn the name of the shooting World Cup in India. These countries include China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, North Korea, Turkmenistan and Bahrain.
A statement released by Raninder Singh, NRAl president,said, “Acting upon the travel advisory by the Ministry of Health, wherein certain nations have been listed for a complete travel ban, the Indian team has therefore been withdrawn from the Cyprus World Cup, because we have found that at least one of those listed nations will be represented there.”
The NRAI had also asked its shooters to train with in the country amid corona virus threat on Wednesday. The national federation had said that it will not permit any shooter from the nation to train on foreign soil due to the novel coronavirus. The NRAI had even issued a strong message by saying that the shooting federation will not think twice before pulling out of the Tokyo Olympics if the coronavirus issue becomes a health risk.
While the outbreak of the Corona virus may have severely affected the Olympic qualifying events, but the World Association of Badminton said on Friday that it had no plans to make any changes to the qualification time of the Tokyo Games.
The corona virus originated in Wuhan, China. Due to this, 3000 people have lost their lives while 80 thousand people are affected by it.
