The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has tweaked the selection policy for the Paris Olympics 2024. The decision comes following the performances of the Indian shooters in 2016 and 2020 Olympics, where they returned without a medal.
According to a report from PTI, the selection policy has been tweaked to give more weightage to international performances. The NRAI will now award two bonus points to Olympic quota winners in rifle 3 positions and 25m pistol. One point will only be awarded to air pistol and rifle shooters.
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Earlier, an Olympic quote winner earned 10 bonus points for World Championship gold. A World Cup Gold medallist earned six bonus points. These bonus points helped the shooters who earned quota places in Olympics a huge advantage during the Olympic qualifiers as other aspirants were unable to reduce the gap.
With the new policy, the NRAI decided that the final average score (FAS) will be the average of the three best Olympic selection trial scores out of the four trials. The new bonus points will further be added to the score before naming the squad for the Olympics.
It is to be noted that an Olympic quote earned by a shooter is that of a country and not of an individual. With the new policy, the shooter who has earned a quota for Olympics will get bonus points but it will be within the touching distance of the shooter next in line who will compete in the qualifiers.
Shooting Trials for Paris Olympics 2024
The four selection trials are likely to be held in April-May. It will be a competition between the top-five shooters in each category. A shooter must participate in a minimum of three trials to be considered for selection. From all the trials, based on the FAS, the team will be selected for the Olympics.
India have won 13 quota places so far. 11 in rifle and pistol events. There will be two more qualifying events for the Paris Olympics.
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