Sipu Jha
NEW DELHI: The Bangladesh government on Wednesday cleared its shooting team to travel to India for next month’s Asian Rifle and Pistol Championships, even as it recently refused permission for the national cricket team to take part in the T20 World Cup in India citing “security concerns”.The continental shooting event will be held at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi from February 2 to 14. Seventeen countries are expected to participate, with over 300 shooters in action. The T20 World Cup, meanwhile, is scheduled across India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8.Bangladesh will send two rifle shooters, who will compete in three events. The team will include 21-year-old women’s rifle shooter Arefin Shaira and 26-year-old Olympian Md Robiul Islam. Both will take part in the 10m air rifle individual events before pairing up for the mixed team competition.There had been uncertainty over Bangladesh’s participation in the shooting championships after the country pulled out of the T20 World Cup. However, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) confirmed on Wednesday that the Bangladesh shooters are set to compete.“So far there is no news that the Bangladesh team is not coming. Their team is coming, no doubt about it,” NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia told news agency PTI.“We at NRAI are in regular touch with them (Bangladesh federation officials). The Ministry of External Affairs has given its clearance and we have forwarded it to the (Indian) embassy for visa process,” he added.A report in Dhaka’s Daily Sun said the Bangladesh government had formally approved the shooting team’s tour of India.“The Youth and Sports Ministry issued the official government order (GO) on Wednesday, clearing the team to compete in the championship scheduled to take place from February 2 to 14. The decision comes despite Bangladesh cancelling the national cricket team’s tour of India for the T20 World Cup earlier due to security concerns,” the report said.According to the report, the Bangladesh government believes the shooting event will “not pose significant security risks, as the competition is set to be held indoors at a secured venue (Karni Singh Range)”.The confusion followed the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision not to send its team to India for the T20 World Cup, citing security concerns after pacer Mustafizur Rahman was excluded by the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise KKR from its 2026 IPL squad.The International Cricket Council later confirmed that Scotland would replace Bangladesh in the tournament, saying the “difficult decision” was taken as it was not possible to accommodate the BCB’s request to move its matches to Sri Lanka so close to the event.The ICC also said there was no verifiable security threat to Bangladesh players, officials or fans in India and that changing the tournament schedule was not appropriate.
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