All the shooters preparing for the Asian Clay Championship beginning in Jaipur from February 21 have been directed to bring in their own ammunition for practice at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges. The instruction from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) comes in the wake of a directive issued by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to the federation.Confirming the development, NRAI secretary-general Baljeet Singh Sethi said, that SAI, while sanctioning the camp, had expressed its inability to supply ammunition and clay birds for the camp. “Since we don’t have adequate stock of cartridges, we have told the shooters to make their own arrangements,” said Sethi. The federation will, however, provide the clay birds. Sethi also said that all the shooters will be reimbursed by SAI at a later date.When contacted by The Indian Express, PC Kashyap, Executive Director (Teams) neither confirmed nor denied about the crisis. “I can’t comment on the issue,” said Kashyap. Even Director General Ratan P Wattal was not available for his comment.The NRAI has shortlisted 33 shooters for the first preparatory camp. The camp was supposed to commence from February 1 but it began only today with six shooters reporting. Most shooters who figure in the camp list do not have the resources to acquire ammuntion. International double trap shooter Ronjon Sodhi is one among them. According to him, he has the stock to last just 10 days.“I might have to borrow to practice for important events like the upcoming Masters in March and the World Cup in April,” he said, adding “this ammunition problem should be sorted out as early as possible.”The problem doesn’t end here as the shooters are concerned about the reimbursement part. According to sources, SAI hasn’t imported ammunition for nearly two years. In fact, it had been borrowing from the NRAI. But this time even the federation has expressed its helplessness. “We don’t have any stock. Even if we were to place the order today, it will take at least four to five months for the consignment to arrive,” said Sethi.The NRAI is also in a fix to make arrangement for the Asian event in Jaipur. “It is an embarrassing situation for us as we don’t have any ammunition for the continental competition,” said Sethi . The federation is expecting about 200 shooters for the Jaipur meet. It figures that the NRAI will need 50,000 catridges for the meet. Sethi said the federation was in the process of borrowing from wherever they can.“At this moment we can’t call off the competition. Hence we need to organise it somehow,” he added.
