To nullify Covid threat, India’s Tokyo-bound shooters to take chartered flight to Croatia to train for Olympics | More sports News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: With a majority of nations imposing a flying ban on Indian travellers owing to the unprecedented Covid-19 situation here, several preparatory training-cum-competition plans for the Tokyo Olympics-bound country’s athletes to foreign shores have either been cancelled or put on hold.
However, amidst the raging pandemic, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has planned to arrange for a special chartered flight for the Tokyo-bound Indian shooters to transport them to Croatian capital Zagreb for the Olympics preparatory camp, without having to scratch their heads over looking for connecting flights and alternate routes. The shooters will be staying back in Zagreb for training purposes, before directly moving on to participate in the Tokyo Games in July-August. All the arrangements have been made in association with the Croatian Shooting Federation.
TOI has learned that the 13 of the Tokyo-qualified air pistol and rifle shooters will assemble in the national capital on Tuesday, along with the coaching support staff personnel, and will be administered Covishield vaccine on May 6 at the Taj Vivanta hotel in Surajkund near the Karni Singh Shooting Range (KSSR). Some have already received their first Covid-19 vaccination shot and will be given their second Covishield jab on Thursday as per the eligibility, while others will be vaccinated for the first time. The second dose for those shooters and coaching support staff will be arranged at the Indian Embassy in Zagreb. Among the two Tokyo-bound shotgun shooters, skeet specialist Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, had already been in Italy training, while Mairaj Ahmad Khan will be soon flying out separately to Capua near Naples.
The team will leave for Zagreb on May 11 on the chartered flight arranged by NRAI president Raninder Singh, where they will train at the Zagreb shooting range alongside some of the finest European champion shooters. The country’s Tokyo-bound shooters will also participate in the European Championships in Osijek – three hours drive from Zagreb – scheduled from May 20-June 6, though in the Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) category.
The shooters and coaching support staff will have to carry a negative RT-PCR Covid report, obtained no less than 48 hours before taking the flight. Upon arrival, they will RT-PCR tested at the Zagreb airport. The Indian shooting members will be subjected to seven-day quarantine at the team hotel.
India had earlier in April named a 15-member Olympic squad for Tokyo. After the New Delhi edition of the World Cup in late March, the shooters had mostly been confined to their respective homes, training at their home or local ranges.