The organising committee of the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Delhi has decided to reimburse all expenses of the medal winners of in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event.
The event, held on Tuesday, was supposed to have two Olympic quota places for Tokyo 2020 but were revoked by the International Olympic Council last week after the two Pakistani shooters competition in it were denied visas by India in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.
Reigning Olympic champion Christian Reitz of Germany clinched the gold medal with a commanding score of 36, even before his opponent had fired his last series. Jumn Lin of China won silver while Kum Junhong of Korea won bronze.
“Bearing in mind the withdrawal of two Olympic quotas in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event as per an IOC decision, the OC of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol New Delhi 2019 has decided as a gesture of goodwill and equity to reimburse 100 per cent of the expenses incurred by the medalists of the event i.e Christian Reitz of Germany, Lin Junmin of China and Kim Junghong of Korea. Suitable notifications to the athletes and federations are being sent out,” Raninder Singh, chairman of the OC and the president of the National Rifle Association of India said.
During the opening ceremony on Thursday, the International Shooting Sport Federation President Vladimir Lisin had informed that all Olympic qualification spots that were on offer at Delhi World Cup, which was later called a miscommunication by Singh. The NRAI chief had said talks were on with IOC. The IOC later decided to revoke only the quotas in the affected events.
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