This was announced by the ISSF President Vladimir Lisin during his address to the season-opening World Cup at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range

All the 16 Olympic quotas allotted to New Delhi World Cup were yesterday withdrawn owing to denial of visas to Pakistani shooters in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack.

This was announced by the ISSF President Vladimir Lisin during his address to the season-opening World Cup at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. Pakistan shooters's participation in the tournament became the bone of contention since the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama killed more than 40 CRPF personnel last Thursday.

Matter under discussion
It was learnt that the International Olympic Committee is deliberating on the matter and a decision of its Executive Board is likely to be issued at 10 pm local time of Switzerland (02:30 IST on Friday), officials said.

"The International Olympic Committee informed us this World Cup will not be included in the competitions for Olympic quotas. In this case, the quotas will be distributed in another World Cup. No one can be discriminated and we have to follow the IOC decision as part of the IOC family," Lisin said.

National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh, though, said that they are still looking for a resolution so that the quotas for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are not withheld. "Nothing is cancelled as of now. The status as of now is we don't know. We are waiting. There are meetings that are going on where the position is being assessed by the IOC and the government. Everyone is working hard but it is a peculiar position. It is very unprecedented scenario and it is unfortunate," Raninder said.

'Clarification required'
When asked about Lisin's address, during which he clearly stated that the quotas have been dropped, Raninder said a clarification would be issued. "He didn't say that [all 16 quotas have been scrapped]. He said may not be able to give quotas. He didn't say it's been withdrawn. You can take the clarification,"
Raninder added.

Denied visas in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, the Pakistan's shooting federation on Wednesday wrote to the international body, asking it to drop the two 25m rapid fire pistol quotas for 2020 Olympics. Pakistan had applied for visas for two shooters — G M Bashir and Khalil Ahmed.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever