Abhinav Bindra Withdraws From Shooting Nationals
Abhinav Bindra was a big draw in the finals of the men's 10m air-rifle event.
.
© AP
Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra will miss the finals of the 59th national shooting championships at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi. His absence will take a big shine out of the tournament. (Read More in Shooting)
Fans were looking ahead to the men's 10m air-rifle finals where Bindra would have clashed with his Olympian teammate, Gagan Narang. It was one of the showcase events of the nationals.
Bindra tweeted, "Due to personal reasons which require me to travel I will not be able to complete my full competition at the national championships. I will however complete my qualification round on one of the days and fulfil the NRAI norms for selection etc".
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had made participation in the nationals mandatory to make the Indian team for international events.
Around 3500 shooters are in action in the two-week event that began on Wednesday.
(With inputs from indianshooting.com)