Wildcard 'headache' for National Rifle Association of India

PUNE: The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has lost over Rs 35 lakh as they decided to turn down 700 wildcard applications for the ongoing 61st National Shooting Championships in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Out of total 900 applications received, the NRAI have accepted only 200 wildcard application for this year's edition of the Nationals.
Although the NRAI has decided to cut down on the number of wildcards, it is still farcical as there is no criteria set by the shooting body for giving the direct entry.
For instance, only the NRAI president Raninder Singh has authority to clear the applications and neither the shooters nor the officials know the reason for acceptance or rejection.
Also, unlike other sports, the NRAI charges a wildcard fee and since the entries are paid, the shooting body is obligated to justify their selection.
The shooting body charges Rs 5,000 per shooter as a non-refundable fee for wildcard entry other than the match fee, which is around Rs 1,000 (average) per event. A shooter on an average participates in two events of his/her category.
Last year, the association was criticized for accepting over 600 wildcard entries for the Nationals conducted in Pune as it diluted the quality of the event by allowing unqualified shooters to participate with the deserving ones.
Tournament director for the Nationals and former national coach, Professor Sunny Thomas said with over 4,900 qualified shooters, reduction in wildcards has only helped the association organize the tournament better.
"This will be the first Nationals in the history of the sport in India that will go on for 21 days. Imagine if the 700 others were allowed, it would have gone on for a month. I feel wildcard is not anybody's right. Wildcard are given to deserving shooters who had missed the pre-nationals qualifiers for genuine reasons," Thomas told TOI.
Raninder Singh didn't respond to TOI's calls when contacted.