India pulls out of 2010 shooting World Cup

New Delhi, Sep 18: The pistol and rifle World Cup, which was scheduled to be held in Mar 2010, has been cancelled after National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) decided not to host the event.

"The 2010 ISSF World Cup in New Delhi has been cancelled. The Organising Committee of the New Delhi World Cup Stage withdrew its application in an official communication to the ISSF," the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) said in a statement.

"The Indian organisers explained the reason of their renouncement mentioning the decision of the IOC on the Olympic Quota Places distribution matter, stressing the fact that no Quota Places would be distributed at the New Delhi World Cup Stage," it said.

"The IOC restated that International Federations will only be able to distribute Olympic Quota Places starting from two years prior the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games," it added.

"Therefore, no Quota Places will be assigned during ISSF World Cup Stages, next year. The first Quota Places will be awarded during the 50th ISSF World Championships in all events that will take place in Munich from Jul 29 through Aug 11, 2010," the statement read.

NRAI chief Baljeet Singh Sethi said the organisers decided against hosting the event as there were no quota places on offer.

"Since there were no Olympic quota places on offer, we decided not to host the World Cup," he said.

OneIndia News