NRAI makes minor changes in selection criteria for LA Olympics

The National Rifle Association of India on Sunday announced the selection criteria for the Los Angeles Olympics 2028, retaining the Olympic Selection Trials format used for the 2024 Paris Games. The new criteria for pistol and rifle events will come into force with the start of the ISSF World Championship in Doha on Sunday.

The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 14 to 30, 2028, in the United States.

Los Angeles will be the host city, with various events also scheduled to be held at other cities spread across the Greater Los Angeles area, plus two subsites in Oklahoma City.

Selection will be based on each shooter’s Final Average Score along with applicable Quota Bonus Points. An NRAI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the selection process would largely follow the previous Olympic cycle, with a few modifications.

The NRAI has made it mandatory for athletes to compete in at least three of the four OSTs to remain eligible for selection. Eligible athletes must participate in at least three of the four OSTs to be considered for selection for the 2028 LA Games. The FAS will be calculated only for athletes who have at least three OST scores.

If an athlete enters a trial but subsequently withdraws before completing it, for reasons known to the athlete, the athlete’s score shall be treated as the exact arithmetic total standing at the point of withdrawal for selection purposes, the NRAI said in a statement.

Under the system adopted for the Paris Olympics, shooters in the rifle and pistol events, including those who had secured Olympic quota places for India and those who had performed well in domestic and international competitions, were required to compete in a series of trials in Delhi and Bhopal. The top six shooters in each event were included in the selection process.

The trials were intended to assess the form of quota winners against other leading Indian shooters ahead of the Games. However, the system triggered considerable discontent and legal challenges, with some athletes who had secured Olympic quotas failing to reproduce their best form in the trials and subsequently losing their places in the Indian contingent.

As in the previous Olympic cycle, the NRAI has also reiterated that an Olympic quota place belongs to the country and not the athlete who secures it.

Under the NRAI’s existing criteria, any Olympic quota place won by an Indian athlete belongs to the NRAI and the country.

The athlete who wins a quota place will receive due consideration under this criterion, but winning a quota does not, by itself, guarantee that the athlete will represent India at the 2028 Olympic Games.

Quota winners, along with other qualified athletes, must participate in the selection trials in accordance with this criterion. The NRAI has also laid down eligibility requirements for participation in the OSTs in line with the ISSF qualification system.

Sources

• The Bridge

• Sportstar

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