I wanted shooters to train in safe environment: Kiren Rijiju on Croatia tour

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said his endeavour was to arrange a safe environment for the Olympic-bound shooters, who will soon be leaving the coronavirus-ravaged India to train and compete in Croatia.

A 15-member Olympic-bound Indian team will depart for Zagreb, Croatia on May 11 in a chartered flight to participate in the European Championship, to be held in Osijek from May 20 to June 6.

The squad will then take part in the ISSF World Cup, in the same city, from June 22 to July 3.

"Our endeavour is to ensure that our Tokyo-bound athletes get the best training in a safe environment. Therefore, @IndiaSports has decided in tandem with @OfficialNRAI to base India's 13-member (15-member) shooting squad for training in Croatia for 78 days from 10th May," Rijiju tweeted. After the training-cum-competition stint in Croatia, they will directly leave for Tokyo to participate in the Olympics, beginning on July 23.

The combined World Cup in Osijek is being organised in place of the one earlier scheduled to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan (from June 21 to July 2) but was cancelled due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in that country. India is facing a devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left the country's health care system in complete shambles with most hospitals struggling for essential supplies like oxygen, ventilators, beds and life saving medicines.