Bangladesh Chief Counsel Muhammad Yunus NEW DELHI: The Bangladesh government on Wednesday cleared its shooting team to travel to India for the Asian Rifle and Pistol Championship next month, even as it recently refused permission for the national cricket team to participate in the T20 World Cup in India due to “security concerns”.The continental shooting event will be held at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi from February 2 to 14. 17 countries are expected to participate with more than 300 shooters in action. Meanwhile, the T20 World Cup is scheduled in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8.
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Bangladesh will send two rifle shooters to compete in three events. The team will include 21-year-old rifle shooter Arefin Shaira and 26-year-old Olympian Md Robiul Islam. Both will compete in the individual 10m air rifle events before combining for the mixed team competition.There was uncertainty over Bangladesh’s participation in the shooting championships after the country pulled out of the T20 World Cup. However, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) on Wednesday confirmed that the Bangladeshi shooters are ready to compete.“There is no news yet that the Bangladeshi team will not come. Their team will come, there is no doubt about it,” NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia told PTI.“We at NRAI are in regular touch with them (Bangladesh federation officials). The Ministry of External Affairs has given its approval and we have forwarded it to the (Indian) embassy for the visa process,” he added.A report in Dhaka’s Daily Sun said the Bangladesh government had formally approved the shooting team’s tour of India.“The Ministry of Youth and Sports on Wednesday issued an official Government Order (GO) allowing the team to compete in the championship scheduled to be held from February 2 to 14. The decision comes despite Bangladesh earlier canceling the national cricket team’s tour of India for the T20 World Cup due to security concerns,” the report said.According to the report, the Bangladeshi government believes the shooting event “will not pose significant security risks as the competition will be held indoors at a secure location (Karni Singh Range)”.The confusion followed the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision not to send its team to India for the T20 World Cup, citing security concerns, after pacer Mustafizur Rahman was dropped by Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise KKR from its 2026 IPL squad.The International Cricket Council later confirmed that Scotland would replace Bangladesh in the tournament, stating that a “difficult decision” had been taken as BCB’s request to move their matches to Sri Lanka so close to the event could not be accommodated.The ICC also said there was no verifiable security threat to Bangladeshi players, officials or fans in India and that a change in the tournament schedule was not appropriate.
