The experienced Amanpreet Singh, Manu Bhaker and Meghana Sajjanar were among the Indian shooters who shone in the first-of-its-kind International Online Shooting Championship held on Wednesday. In the 10m air rifle event, Austria's Martin Strempfl finished at the top with 632.5, Sajjanar was second with 630.5 while Etienne Germond of France was placed third with 629.4.
The NRAI said in a statement that it has not sanctioned any such tournament in the country.
India's Sanjeev Rajput and Shahzar Rizvi won 10m air rifle and air pistol event finals respectively in the second International Online Shooting Championship on Saturday. The competitors logged in through Zoom app from their respective locations and shot using their Electronic Shooting Targets.
The capital has got a new state-of-the-art 10-meter shooting range, which will have London Olympics silver medallist marksman Vijay Kumar as its advisor.
Former India shooter Shimon Sharif has successfully organised the second edition of the virtual tournament last Saturday and he is optimistic of this becoming a regular affair at a time when the world is under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, he feels similar tournaments can be organised even when normalcy returns, athletes venture out and sporting events resume outdoor.
Some of the world's elite shooters will transform their living rooms into competition ranges on April 15 for a first-of-its-kind international online championship, the coronavirus lockdown triggering another out of the box thinking. An electronic target setup, beside a mobile phone with internet connection, is all they require to shoot in the championship.
An online shooting tournament, held in bedrooms and basements, brought some positivity and a smile on the face of a young national- level shooter undergoing treatment for cancer in a Kolkata hospital. From her hospital bed, the ailing markswoman joined the proceedings in the second international online shooting championship through Zoom App, and expressed her delight at being part of an initiative that also resulted in a virtual post-match press conference.
The Walther rifle imported by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who retired from international cricket on Saturday, is the same model which another champion sportsperson, Abhinav Bindra, had used to win a historic individual gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.