New Delhi: How many times have we heard the story of apathy for non-cricket sports?
The Indian shooters, who are dominating the commonwealth shooting championships, are now are up in arms after being denied cash incentives for medals at the Asian Air Gun championship.
Vikram Bhatnagar and Md. Ashab, Gagan Narang, Anisa Sayeed and Amanpreet Singh powered India’s clean sweep on the second day of the Commonwealth shooting championships but they were still an unhappy bunch.
“The same amount of blood and sweat goes into winning any event. In shooting, we only get warm handshakes, we do not get any no prize money,” said Gagan Narang.
The rifle and pistol shooters are crying foul after being denied cash incentives by the Sports Ministry for the Asian Air Gun championships in December.
They won multiple medals in Doha and even managed to beat the fancied Chinese in a couple of events for gold. But having run into a brick wall in the corridors of Government, they even thought about wearing black armbands in protest.
“They wanted to wear black armbands in protest but I said no because the foreigners are here,” said Sunny Thomas, India’s national shooting coach.
Shooting's status as the number one sport in the country cannot be disputed. So, it is shocking to know that the government is ignoring the shooters’ demands. The shooters have time and again delivered at the biggest tournaments of the world. Should they have to go begging for what is rightfully theirs?
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