Kalikesh begins first full term as NRAI president, Pawan Singh is new secretary general

Mohali, Dec 4 (PTI) Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo began his first full four-year term as president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) after he was elected unopposed during its general body meeting here on Thursday.

Pawan Singh, a well-known administrator and technical expert of the precision sport, was elected as the new secretary general as results of the sports body's elections were officially declared.

The elections were conducted by Justice (Retd) Nirmaljit Kaur, who was the returning officer.

The elections also put in place a new executive committee and a new governing body.

Sharing his first reactions, Singh Deo said, "Indian shooting has currently seen its most successful phase in history over the last couple of years, both in terms of success and popularity and that increases our responsibilities manifold.

"I wholeheartedly thank the entire general body for restoring faith in me and my team and we promise to leave no stone unturned to accelerate this growth momentum even further and to maximise the potential that our extremely talented shooting athletes possess.

"With the flag paramount in our thoughts, let us all work together to make India number one in the world in our beloved sport." Odisha's Singh Deo has been in charge of the federation since former president Raninder Singh completed his three terms in the post.

Pawan Singh said, "All the functions in the NRAI are already online, from registration to results, and now the next step is to use technology efficiently. We want to leverage AI and performance data to identify talented shooters across the country.

"My focus will be on using technology to find and nurture promising athletes from every corner of India. We also want to train coaches and shooters for coaching so that they have an alternate career when they retire and can earn from the sport they have invested their life in." In the two electoral contests which took place, Amit Sanghi from Telangana was elected as the senior vice president, while Kanwar Sultan Singh and Sushma Singh were elected vice-presidents in the 15-member executive committee.

The four sportspersons in the executive committee are Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang, Kunti Malik, Zorawar Singh Sandhu and Elavenil Valarivan. PTI AH AM AH AM AM