International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) President Luciano Rossi felt India will play a huge role in popularising the sport of shooting in the years to come given its big market.
Although, the ISSF has about 163 member countries in its fold, India holds the key to unlocking the true potential of shooting as a sport at the global level considering the number of youngsters taking up the sport in the country.
To give a fillip to the movement to take the sport to the next level, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) will be organising its much anticipated franchise-based Shooting League of India (SLI) later in the year.
"The ISSF has 163 member countries across continents. But the biggest (potential) now is (in) India," said Rossi in a virtual interaction with the media.
"ISSF relies on a strong cooperation from the NRAI and also other Asian countries. We have members from five continents, but Asia has a lot of talent and the incredible scores are a testimony to that," he said.
"We are working with India and China to help increase the sport activity around in Asia."
The NRAI President Kalikesh Singh Deo felt the ISSF has been consistent with its support for India in terms of awarding top international competitions to the country.
"ISSF has always been very generous towards India. They awarded us the World Cup Final in 2024 after the Olympics. This year, we are conducting the Junior World Cup. Next year in February, we have the Asian Shooting Competition... in 2027, the ISSF has given us a World Cup quota competition.
"And in 2028, we have the Junior World Championship, where thousands of young shooters will come from all over the world to participate in India," Kalikesh added.
The NRAI President emphasised on how much the SLI and other upcoming international competitions will benefit the emerging, young shooters in the country.
"This is, of course, exciting for the Indian shooters, because most of our shooters come in the rather young category... we've had shooters as young as 16, going up to 24, 25, one of the youngest teams in the world. And, of course, one of the most successful teams in the world in the recently held events in Argentina and Peru and World Cups, as well as Munich."
Kalikesh was gung-ho about the promising potential of what he called the first shooting league in the world.
"We are very excited that the world's first Shooting League of India is going to be held in India towards the end of November. We are very grateful to ISSF for listing it in the calendar. More than 70 international shooters from over 20 countries have agreed to participate in this. And of course, more than 400-500 domestic shooters have applied to be part of the auction process," added Kalikesh.
The ISSF President Rossi also stressed on how the global body was working on making the sport more television and spectator friendly and stated changes would be seen at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
"And we will test it this year in the World Cup Final that will be in Doha. We will be ready for LA28. We understand that shooting is not a physical sport, as some the other sports are. It doesn't mean that we can't make it more exciting and viewer-friendly," he added.
