Academy neither affiliated to NRAI nor KSRA

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The shooting sport is once again in the limelight after gathering a huge fan following in the recently concluded 35th National Games, but this time for wrong reasons.
Police have launched a probe against Center Point Sports Shooting Academy based on the complaint by Haryana-based shooter Deepak Suri that the institution which duped him of Rs 4.85 lakh is neither affiliated to National Federation of Shooting (NRAI) nor Kerala State Rifle Association (KSRA).
The KSRA too has cautioned that shooting enthusiasts who plan to enroll in this academy can do so at their own peril as it is neither affiliated to it or NRAI.
The academy claims that it is an affiliated unit of Shooting Sports Foundation (SSF), which is affiliated to NRAI. But senior KSRA members said that the affiliation was invalid as per the rules and norms of NRAI.
KSRA vice-president Sunny Thomas said that Centre Point MD Roshin Mathew could not claim that his academy was affiliated to NRAI just because SSF has an affiliation.
KSRA secretary Joe Mangaly concurs: “Anybody can start an air rifle/ air pistol shooting academy but until and unless the academy is affiliated to the district, state/national associations, one cannot participate in any competition.”
He said that as there were complaints against Mathew, the association thought it was important to keep the public posted about the academy’s authenticity.
NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia told TOI from New Delhi that the association had stopped giving affiliation to private academies and only affiliates state associations.
“SSF was affiliated under a special consideration because Sunny Thomas, a life-time member of NRAI, was the president of SSF,” he said.
Thomas, who had been the coach for shooting aces like Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Abhinav Bindra, stepped down as the president of SSF on February 19, 2015 by sending his resignation through an email to Mathew expressing his displeasure over the functioning of SSF.
Thomas had also expressed his displeasure over the delay in getting the accounts of SSF audited even after repeated requests.
“Even as the president of SSF, I was never informed about this affiliation. I came to learn about this when I visited Center Point Sports Shooting Academy website. SSF got the affiliation only because of my recommendation but after receiving several complaints against Mathew, I thought it would be wise on my part to step down before the damage is done,” Thomas said.
Mathew’s request for affiliation was initially rejected by NRAI as he had named the academy as “Shooting Sports Foundation of India”, but later the affiliation was granted when “India” was dropped from the name. “I was surprised to see that he still runs a website and email ID under the name of SSFI,” Thomas added.
Denying the allegations, Mathew said that the academy is an affiliated unit of SSF, which is affiliated to NRAI, adding that as per the bylaws of SSF (Mathew is the founder general secretary of SSF) its sister concerns are eligible for NRAI affiliation.