World champion rifle shooters Rudranksh and Moudgil await President’s Cup checks
India’s young world champion rifle shooter Rudranksh Patil does not know when he will get his check of 15,000 Euros (about Rs 13.25 lakh) for winning the prestigious President’s Cup due to regime change in the International Shooting Federation (ISSF). The top 12 athletes in each individual Olympic event, based on the 2022 world rankings, compete in the ISSF Presidents Cup, which this year had prize money of 792,000 euros. Each event had prize money of 66,000 Euros with the winner receiving 15,000 Euros.
World number one shooter Rudranksh had on December 3 defeated Danilo Solazo of Italy in the final of the men’s 10m air rifle event of the year-end ISSF Presidents Cup 2022 in Cairo. But the 19-year-old shooter is yet to receive the prize money as world governing body ISSF chief Vladimir Lisin failed to meet his financial commitments and was removed as the head of the world governing body.
Another Indian shooter, Anjum Moudgil, won a silver medal in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event and was to get 7500 Euros. Rudraksh’s father Balasaheb Patil told PTI on Friday, “They (ISSF) had announced the prize money and now they are delaying it. It’s not good but what can we say. It is learned that the ISSF under the chairmanship of Italy’s Luciano Rossi will try its best to fulfill this commitment.
Patil said, “The previous ISSF president (Lisin) was sponsoring the prize money. Then the elections came and he was removed. That’s why all the sponsors canceled the sponsorship. I am hopeful that they (ISSF) will be able to fulfill this commitment in a month or two but there is uncertainty over it. However, he said that Rudraksh’s training has not been affected by this.
