Athens Olympic silver
medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore lashed out at the
National Rifle Shooting Association of India (NRAI) for
leaving him out of the Commonwealth Games squad on the basis
of "unfair selection policy".
|Last Updated: Sep 22, 2010, 07:02 PM IST|Source: Bureau
Jaipur: Athens Olympic silver
medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Wednesday lashed out at the
National Rifle Shooting Association of India (NRAI) for
leaving him out of the Commonwealth Games squad on the basis
of "unfair selection policy".
"The NRAI had adopted a new selection policy in March but
took base scores with retrospective effect from February. I`m
not fighting for myself but for all other sportsmen who suffer
because of the indifferent attitude of sports officials,"
Rathore said.
"If you have a policy implement it from a future date.
How can they implement it from back date," Rathore questioned.
Rathore, who was eager to get back to action after taking
a long break from the sport, said, "Such breaks help and the
hunger to succeed was back."
Besides his silver medal-winning feat in the Athens
Olympics, Rathore had won gold at the last two editions of the
Commonwealth Games.
The army man also claimed bronze in the World
Championship in Nicosia in 2003, gold in the World Cups in
Cairo and Sydney, and bronze again in Grenada in 2006 when he
shot a career-best 144 in qualification.
However, in trying to change the system, Rathore seemed
to have lost his focus. "Yes, I stood up but lost focus and
found it hard to concentrate," the shooter who walked out of
trials in Patiala early this year due to faulty machines,
said.
Despite missing the Commonwealth Games bus, Rathore,
however, is confident that the Indian shooting contingent
would do well in the October 3-14 event.
"Indian Shooting is on high for the past few years. We
have a very strong team and I believe they would rain medals.
I feel they can win around 20-22 medals," Rathore said.
"We are getting stronger day by day and I believe there
would not be much of a challenge in Delhi,” he said.
The shooter also had some good things to say about Ronjan
Sodhi and Asher Noria. "Ronjan has won gold in the world cup
at Turkey and Asher Noria is also very promising," Rathore
said.
On controversies surrounding the Games, Rathore blamed
the organising committee for the mess. "They knew we have a
job but the organising committee did not wake up in time. The
blame lie with the government too because they failed to
monitor and assess the situation," Rathore said.
PTI
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