SAI to pay for Olympic-bound shooters' competition-cum-training tour of Croatia

New Delhi, May 8: Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Saturday said it will bear the expenses incurred during the country's Olympic-bound shooting team's upcoming competition-cum-training tour of Croatia.

The entire tour will cost Rs 3 crore. A 15-member Olympic-bound Indian team will leave for Zagreb, Croatia on May 11 in a chartered flight to participate in the European Championship in Osijek from May 20 to June 6.

After that the Indian team will take part in the ISSF combined World Cup, to be hosted in the same city from June 22 to July 3.

The combined World Cup is being organised in place of the one earlier scheduled in Baku, Azerbaijan (from June 21 to July 2) but got cancelled due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in that country. After the training-cum-competition stint in Croatia, they will directly leave for Tokyo to participate in the Olympics, beginning on July 23.

India is facing a devastating second wave of COVID-19, which has left the country's health care system in complete shambles with most hospitals struggling for essential supplies like oxygen, ventilators, beds and life-saving medicines.