Junior shooter suspended for misbehaving with woman in Italy

New Delhi: A junior shooter has been suspended by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for misbehaving with a woman in the hotel staff during a training camp in Italy recently.

The 17-year old, who was preparing for the ongoing World Shotgun Championships in Lima, Peru, along with his team-mates, has been withdrawn from the event. The incident comes just a couple of months after the NRAI handed two shooters one-year and six-month bans respectively for mentally harassing a female shooter even though they were absolved of charges of sexual harassment. "We received the report and action has been taken against him immediately. The shooter has been made to apologise to the foreign national and to the Indian team for letting them down," NRAI President Raninder Singh told PTI. "The matter has been referred to the athletes commission. He has been suspended by the management from the time of the incident that was reported to us," said Singh. Incidentally, the shooter was reprimanded just one and half months ago by the NRAI president. "The government has been told and I have already spoken to Sports Secretary and SAI, informed them about what action we have taken." The said shooter had won a medal in an international competition in Europe early this year. The police also got involved in the case but charges were not framed against the shooter as he is a minor. "Since he is a minor, he is still staying with the team but not part of it. Had it been a senior, he would have been sent to India immediately," Singh informed. In July, another two shooters were slapped bans for "mental harassment involving incidences of abusive and indecent language" during a junior shooting competition at Suhl, Germany, in June. They had been banned from all international and national tournaments till their suspension period ends. Acting on the recommendations of the six-member probe committee headed by ace shooter Anjali Bhagwat, the NRAI then had also reprimanded three other marksmen for "abetting the wrongdoings". The woman shooter, who had made the complaint, was also reprimanded. That incident led to the NRAI initiating a slew of codes to be followed by the shooting contingent on tours. PTI