Pak shooting body wants 2 quotas dropped from New Delhi World Cup

New Delhi: Denied visas in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, the Pakistan's shooting federation Wednesday wrote to the international body, asking it to drop the two 25m rapid fire pistol quotas for 2020 Olympics, in the season-opening World Cup here.

The terror attack, which killed 40 CRPF personnel, had cast a doubt on Pakistan shooters' participation in the tournament, starting Saturday, in the Indian capital.

"The ISSF has received a letter from the Pakistan federation, requesting it not to offer quota places in the events their shooters were scheduled to participate. This is what the ISSF secretary general said," a National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) official said.

Pakistan had applied for visas for two shooters — G M Bashir and Khalil Ahmed — in the rapid fire category as the event in New Delhi also serves as a qualifier for the 2020 Olympic games.

Both International Shooting Sport Federation president Vladimir Lisin and secretary general Alexander Ratner are here for the mega event. While Lisin could take up the matter with Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ratner said the decision to allot quota places depend on the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The top two officials of the ISSF were at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range Wednesday evening, even as the global body termed the situation urgent.

"ISSF World Cup in New Delhi faces an urgent situation as Pakistani athletes cannot get entry visas to participate in the competition, due to the terrorist attacks happened last days in India," the global sports body said in a statement.