The Hindu : PM honours Indian medal winners

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 23, 2003

Sport

Sport - Shooting

PM honours Indian medal winners

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI MARCH 22. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, honoured the Indian medal winners in the closing ceremony of the shotgun World Cup at the Parade ground here on Saturday.

Congratulating all the medal winners, the Prime Minister made a special mention of Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Manavjit Singh Sandhu who won the double trap and trap bronze medals respectively.

Confessing his unfamiliarity to the sports, Mr. Vajpayee said that shooting in films was fine and it was equally fine in sports. He appreciated the efforts of the Indian shooters in winning a rich haul of medals in the Commonwealth Games.

"Our shooters were No. 1 in the Commonwealth Games. Keep it up. Indian women have also been doing well in shooting. I congratulate Anjali Vedpathak (Bhagwat) who has the distinction of having already qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games," he said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned the efforts of Jaspal Rana and the World junior record holder, air rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra, in projecting a positive image of Indian sport.

Appreciating the work done by the organisers, Mr. Vajpayee said that more such international events should be hosted in the country, so that the Indians could compete with the best in the world.

The gold winning trap team of Mansher Singh, Manavjit Sandhu and Anwer Sultan, the Grand Prix women's skeet winner Arti Singh, junior trap winner Birendeep Sodhi, junior double trap winner Asab Ali were also felicitated by the Prime Minister along with Major Rathore and Manavjit Singh.

Goading the Indian shooters to sustain their good work, the Prime Minister was quick in wishing luck for the Indian cricket team who will face Australia in the World Cup final in Johannesburg on Sunday.

The Prime Minister declared the ISSF World Cup closed, and in the same breath declared the Asian Clay Shooting Championship open.

Earlier in his welcome address, the president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Digvijay Singh, said that the Indian shooters exhibited their best performance in winning so many medals for the first time in a world-level competition.

Such a rich haul in the shooting World Cup, Mr. Digvijay Singh hoped would inspire the Indian cricket team to win the cricket World Cup.

The Chairman of the organising committee, Mr. K.P. Singh Deo, said that it was a huge task to handle the large participation of about 240 shooters from 41 countries. He thanked everyone involved for making the World Cup a success.

In his vote of thanks, the secretary general of the NRAI, Mr. Baljit Singh Sethi, said that entries were accepted even beyond the last date, in an attempt to avoid disappointment to anyone.

"We assure that we will bring more laurels to the country in the near future," said Mr. Sethi. The Defence Minister, George Fernandez, presided over the function that included a colourful cultural ceremony.

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