Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra today felt National Rifle Association of India's historic tie-up with a leading sports channel to broadcast live the 8th Asian Air Gun Championships will ensure the sport enters the bedrooms.
The continental tournament will be held at the Dr Karni Singh Range from September 27-30, while the opening ceremony is planned for tomorrow.
The federation has inked a deal with Star Sports to cover the event, the first time that any international shooting event outside the World Cups and World Championship, will be shown live on television.
Asked about the broadcast deal, Bindra, a gold medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said, "It's good for the sport, it's very important for long-term development of sport, television is the only way through which it can enter every household."
NRAI chief Raninder Singh lauded the efforts of its executives.
"We can reach out to corporates through media only. We luckily achieved what we set out to achieve. We have a tender through which we have tied up with Star Sports. This is path-breaking.
"It was an initiative by NRAI executive to bring in electronic media. There has been huge investment in terms of money and time. This was very necessary in view of corporate sponsorship in future," Raninder told reporters.
The Asian Air Gun Championship is the first international shooting competition in India after a gap of almost five years. The last time when fans were able to see their shooting stars in top-level action was during the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
