The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) was founded in 1951 with a view to promote and popularize the
shooting sports in India
Shooting is an important Olympic sport in India. Of India's 35 Olympic medals, four have come from shooting, including a gold by Abhinav Bindra in the 2008 Olympics. Indian shooters who have excelled at international events include Abhinav Bind ...
. The first speaker of
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
, Sh. G.V. Mavlankar was the founder and the first president of NRAI followed by Sh. Govind Vallabh Pant, Sh. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Sh. Y. B. Chauhan, Sh. G.S. Dhillon and Sh. Joginder Singh. Sh.
Raninder Singh
Raninder Singh (born 2 August 1967) is an Indian politician from Punjab, India, and son of the former Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh. He is the titular heir to the Phulkian royal dynasty of Patiala.
Early life and education
He belong ...
has served as president since December 2010.
Tournaments
The NRAI is affiliated to the
Indian Olympic Association
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams ...
and the
International Shooting Sport Federation
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is the governing body of the Olympic shooting events in rifle, pistol and shotgun (clay target) disciplines, and of several non-Olympic shooting sport events. ISSF's activities include regula ...
as well as the
Asian Shooting Confederation The Asian Shooting Confederation (ASC) is an association of the International Shooting Sport Federation's member federations from Asia.
Competitions administered by the ASC
* Asian Shooting Championships
*Shooting at the Asian Games
Shooting spo ...
and other international bodies. NRAI holds five national competitions annually with a view to promote and popularize the Sports of shooting in India:
*National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC)
*All India G.V. Mavlankar Shooting Championship (AIGVMSC)
*Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Memorial Masters Shooting Championship
*Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Shooting Championship
*All India Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Inter School Shooting Championship
International Performance
Shooting in India gained visibility when
Abhinav Bindra
Abhinav Apjit Bindra is an Indian Olympic gold medallist, retired sport shooter, and businessman.Men's 10Metre Air Rifle at the
2008 Olympic Games
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
. This was India's first ever Olympic Gold medal in an individual sport.
Shooting at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
In 2017, the Commonwealth Games Federation announced that the 2022 Commonwealth Games would no longer be held in
Durban
Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...
. The Games were awarded to
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
who chose not to include Shooting in the programme for the first time since 1970.
Following unsuccessful representations by the ISSF and British Shooting to have Shooting reinstated, the NRAI and IOA started plans to host a parallel Shooting competition in India and entered discussions with the CGF to have the medals included in Birmingham's medal table. The NRAI and IOA proposed to fully fund both the event as well as travel and accommodation expenses for several hundred athletes. Proposals were also made to include Archery, which had not been included since the
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...
in Delhi. Initial plans were to host the event in
Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...
, which would have required the construction of a new 1000yard fullbore range for the Queens shoot. The planned event - named the ''Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championship'' - was cancelled in July 2021 due to ongoing concerns over COVID-19.
See also
*
Sport in India
Sport is a significant part of life in India. The country has a very long sports history, with sports being a part of tradition, culture, finance and entertainment. People in India closely follow various sports and enthusiastically participate ...
India at the Olympics
India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, with a lone athlete Norman Pritchard winning two medals – both silver – in athletics and became the first Asian nation to win an Olympic medal.
The nation first sent a team to the Summer ...
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...