New Delhi:
Putting to rest months of speculations, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee on Tuesday showcased the almost-ready Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.
The shooting venue for the October 3-14 mega event was under fire for a long time for delay in construction with reports pouring in that certain parts of trap and skeet arena had sunk in because of the incessant rains.
But according to officials the venue, put on show on Tuesday, is ready for competition and just needs finishing touch.
"All the shooting ranges are in operation and whatever work is being done, I am expecting it to be over by September 16," said the venue administrator, Manmeet Singh.
"It is very easy to criticise. All I had said was allow us to work and then come and see," he said.
Divided into six ranges, the final range is the highlight of the venue. It is the only air conditioned range in the venue to hold around 750 spectators and will host the finals of 10m, 25m and 50m events.
The range one of the venue is in operation, while ranges five and six are for practice and ranges second and fourth are on the standby for the finals.
"No one is allowed to practice on the final range till the finals. Only the top eight shooters will come in the range," said Manmeet, the venue administrator.
In terms of capacity, Manmeet said, "All the six ranges have the capacity to hold around 1200 spectators in all.
"The trap and skeet ranges have the capacity to hold 150 spectators each," he continued.
The venue administrator also said that foreign players will start practicing in the venue from September 23 as the registrations are opening on September 16.
Organising Committee vice-chairman Randhir Singh, who himself was an Olympian shooter, also praised the state-of-the-art shooting range.
"We would like to say it is one of the best shooting ranges in the world," Randhir said.
Both Randhir and Manmeet praised the current Indian shooting team, particularly trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi and skeet shooter Mairaz Khan.
"We have best shooters in the world like Ronjan Sodhi and Mairaz Khan along with Samaresh Jung and Abhinav Bindra. So we are providing them with the best," Randhir said during a guided media visit to the Dr Karni Karni Singh Shooting Range.