New Delhi, The National Rifle Association of India plans to introduce approximately 7.5 lakh school students to the sport of shooting as part of its 75th foundation anniversary celebrations, which commenced at the Karni Singh Range here on Friday.
Among those present at the occasion were double Olympic medallist pistol shooter Manu Bhaker, Asian Games gold medallist Jitu Rai, NRAI Secretary General Pawankumar Singh, along with other officials, coaches, and members of the shooting fraternity.
“We have year-long celebrations planned. We have set a target of introducing 7.5 lakh new school students to shooting, where we will either visit their schools of call them to the nearest range and make them shoot 10-shots each,” said Singh in a release.
“We will take the help of the government, the ministry of sports as well as all the shooting academies and local shooting clubs across cities and districts of the country in order to achieve this goal.
“This will help unearth new natural talent. We plan to felicitate all the Arjuna, Khel Ratna, Dronacharya awardees and Olympic medalists in shooting during the National Championships, as well as the State Awardees during the State Championships,” he added.
The NRAI came into existence on this day in 1951 with eminent freedom fighter, parliamentarian and the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, G.V. Mavalankar, as its first president.
Several freedom fighters, including former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, GB Pant, the first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Yashwantrao Chavan, the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra, were among the first pillars of this institution.
Shooting is one of India’s most successful sports at major international events, including the Olympics, where athletes such as Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Abhinav Bindra, Vijay Kumar, Gagan Narang, and Manu Bhaker, among others, have brought glory to the nation.
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