Abhinav Bindra Withdraws From Asian Olympic Qualification Event In January

The 33-year-old has decided to skip the event as he wants to provide other shooters an opportunity to clinch a quota for Rio 2016.

“My absence will give others a chance to win an Olympic quota for India. Am also not shooting in the Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) category as it makes no sense to me,” The Dehradun-born shooter was quoted as saying to a website.

Bindra has already booked a spot for Rio 2016 after finishing 6th in the 10m Air Rifle final at the ISSF World Cup in Munich in May and won a Gold in his pet event at the Asian Airgun Championships in September.

Along with Bindra, the only Indian women shooter yet to have qualified for Rio-Apurvi Chandela and India’s first ever skeet qualifier Mairaj Ahmed Khan will also not participate in the event.

Three other shooters- Gagan Narang, Gurpreet Singh and Prakash Nanjappa- will compete only in the Minimum Qualification Score(MQS) category. This is a key event for the likes of Heena Sidhu, Vijay Kumar and Manavjit Sandhu who will look to seal a berth and thereby further strengthen an already impressive looking Indian contingent for the Olympics.

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