Security Concerns Only For Cricketers? After World Cup Drama, Bangladesh Sends Shooters To India For Asian C'ships

The Bangladesh government has granted approval for its shooters to travel to India for next month’s Asian Rifle and Pistol Championships, after previously refusing to send its national cricket team to the country for the upcoming T20 World Cup due to security concerns.

The T20 World Cup will be held at various venues across India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8. Meanwhile, the shooting event will take place at the Dr Karni Singh Range in India from February 2 to 14, with 17 countries sending over 300 shooters.

Bangladesh will participate with two rifle shooters, who will compete in a total of three events. There was speculation that Bangladesh might also withdraw its shooting team from the championships due to “security concerns” after

pulling out of the global T20 cricket tournament. However, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) confirmed on Wednesday that the shooters from Bangladesh are set to compete.

“So far, there is no indication that the Bangladesh team is not coming. They are definitely coming,” said NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia.

“We at NRAI are in regular contact with officials from the Bangladesh federation. The Ministry of External Affairs has given its clearance, and we have forwarded it to the Indian embassy for the visa process,” added Bhatia.

Bangladesh will be represented by 21-year-old women’s rifle shooter Arefin Shaira and 26-year-old Olympian Md Robiul Islam. The two 10m air rifle shooters will compete in individual events before teaming up for the mixed team competition.

A report in Dhaka’s Daily Sun on Wednesday confirmed that the Bangladesh government had approved the shooting team’s tour of India.

“The Youth and Sports Ministry issued the official government order on Wednesday, clearing the team to compete in the championship scheduled to take place from February 2 to 14. This 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 stated.

According to the report, the Bangladesh government believes the shooting championship will “not pose significant security risks, as the competition is set to be held indoors at the secured venue (Karni Singh Range)”.

The uncertainty arose after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to allow its team to travel to India for the World Cup, citing security concerns following Mustafizur Rahman’s exclusion from the Indian Premier League.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) then confirmed that Scotland has replaced Bangladesh in the global competition, stating that the “difficult decision” was made as it was not feasible to meet BCB’s request to shift their matches to Sri Lanka so close to the tournament.

The ICC maintained that there was no verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team, officials, or supporters in India, and it was not appropriate to amend the published event schedule.

(With Inputs From Agencies)