Pune: The ammunition-strapped Indian shooters have at last received a major fillip in their preparation for the London Olympics next year with the government permitting the NRAI to test and import top grade ammunition from England.
A group of four shooters - Khel Ratna Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput (both Omypic quota holders), Imran Hasan Khan and Surender Singh Rathore - accompanied by national coach Sunny Thomas and rifle coach Stanislaus Lapidus will visit the Eley ammunition factory in Birmigham for testing from Dec 1 to 4.
"We will carry eight to 10 barrels including those of some other shooters and the order would be placed for 60,000 rounds of ammunition, which would be exclusively for Olympic preparation," Thomas said. "This ammunition is only for competition for those shooters who would be part of the Olympic squad."
This is the first time that the NRAI has taken the step of testing the ammunition before placing order. TOI had earlier highlighted the importance of testing since different barrels are compatible with different batches of the same lot of ammunition since the ammunition that suits Narang's gun might not fit Rajput. "NRAI has also got its own licence now so we will get a much larger bulk separately and that would be sufficient for practice and other shooters," he added.
TOI