Rajyavardhan Rathore and Ronjan Sodhi left out of CW event

The Commonwealth Shooting Championships, scheduled to be held here next month, are destined to be in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Originally slated for October last year, they had to be postponed by four months (February 18 to 28) as the Dr. Karni Singh shooting ranges in Tughlakabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, could not be ready in time.

Then, a delay in construction of the Kadarpur ranges in Gurgaon near here meant the full bore events had to be taken off the schedule and slated to be held in a separate championship from April 16 to 25.

Now, there is a controversy regarding the selection of the Indian team. Though top rifle shooters like Abhinav Bindra and Anjali Bhagwat did not show interest in the meet and thus did not take part in the trials held by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), others like Rajyavardhan Rathore and Ronjan Sodhi have not been picked for the meet.

Top double-trap shooters Rathore and Sodhi were reportedly ignored following their refusal to continue participating in a trial at Patiala last month, citing a fault in the clay-pigeon machine. Performances in the trial were to be taken into consideration along with another trial as well as results of the national championship.

“There were objections by some competitors during the trials. Though the federation has gone ahead and announced the team, there could still be some changes as government nominee Morad Ali Khan is expected to give a report on the episode soon,” said a shooter.

The Commonwealth championships are important for preparation of the Commonwealth Games, in which India won a whopping 16 gold and seven silver medals in the last edition in 2006.