NRAI says it deserves better representation in IOA

New Delhi: The National Rifle Association of India is miffed with the Indian Olympic Association for not giving it fair "representation" despite the shooters' consistent medal-winning efforts in top international events, including the Olympics.

"Look at our shooters' performance in Olympics and other international tournaments. They have been consistently doing well but still we don't have representation in the IOA. What can we do, it's for the powers that be in the IOA," NRAI President Raninder Singh said on Tuesday.

"Overall, I think India finished 45th in London (Olympics), and in shooting we finished 8th. Our aim is to breach the top-5 in Rio (2016) and be in the top-3 in Tokyo (2020)," he added on the sidelines of the launch of the first-ever Indian Shotgun Open, starting here from Wednesday.

Indian shooters have been winning medals in Olympics since the 2004 Games in Athens. While Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore clinched silver 10 years ago, Abhinav Bindra became the country's first individual gold medal winner in 2008 Beijing Games. Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang bagged silver and a bronze respectively at the London Games in 2012.

Add to this, Indian shooters have been winning innumerable medals in World Cups, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asiad.

Asked if the NRAI tried to speak to the IOA regarding representation, Raninder responded in the negative. NRAI and IOA have not been on good terms for some time now.

During the Indian Olympic Association's General Body Meeting in August 2013, Raninder was asked to leave the meeting due to a pending court case against the shooting body. In that meeting, Raninder had raised the issue of whether an NRAI representative could be a part of the proposed IOA's Athletes Commission.