NRAI says roll-back affects financial stability

The NRAI's claim came a day after its technical committee was forced to announce a roll-back in the entry fees for an upcoming selection trials after the rifle and pistol shooters wrote to the federation, expressing shock at its recent decision to hike the fees.

"We have reduced the fees. But the NRAI is at loss... Why should we incur loss. This is affecting our financial stability," an NRAI official told PTI.

"Shooting is not like any other sport. During the recent Nationals, we spent about Rs 16 lakh on consumables such as template etc.. Since the government is not supposed to fund for conducting trials and competitions, the NRAI has to take care of them," the official said.

"These losses are definitely affecting out financial stability," the official added.

Asked about the roll-back, NRAI's advisor Baljeet Singh Sethi, too, said that the "federation is at loss".

It may be noted that Sahara provides an annual sponsorship amount of Rs 40 lakh every year to NRAI.

The technical committee had, in its meeting yesterday, reduced the entry fee for air weapon events to Rs 1,500 for two trials.

The amount is, however, Rs 2,500 for other events for both the trials.

Some of the shooters, including a few well-known ones, were earlier taken aback after the NRAI posted on their website the hiked fees.