Nipah Virus forces NRAI to postpone selection trials in Kerala

After requests from National coaches started doing the rounds earlier this week, the National Rifle Association was forced to change the dates and essentially postpone the Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Shooting Championship which was supposed to take place in Thiruvananthapuram at the end of this month. The reason cited has been the recent outbreak of the Nipah Virus that has so far claimed multiple lives in Northern Kerala. Up until the last updates received from the state, the virus still remains without a cure which is why quarantine and evacuation remains the only way out. So far, the effect of the Nipah has stayed limited to only a few parts of Kerala, all of them geographically far away from Thiruvananthapuram where the Shooting C'ship and Selection Trails were supposed to take place, but does that seem like a risk worth taking especially with the Asian Games round the corner?

"In view of NIPAH Virus in Kerala, it has been decided to postpone 18 KSS Championship and selection trial 5, which were scheduled to be held at Trivandrum, Kerala have been postponed.

Fresh dates and venue will be notified shortly. NRAI and Gagan Narang Sports Foundation, the unit hosting the event, regret the inconvenience if any to all concerned," the NRAI said in a statement.

The announcement comes in lieu of public and unofficial requests made by people like Jaspal Rana and Joydeep Karmakar who, in their respective social media accounts, had urged Raninder Singh, the President of the NRAI to rethink the decision of holding the trials at the given dates. In the circular which was initially released by the NRAI regarding the Selection Trails, it said, "It has been decided to hold selection trial no. 5 for senior, junior and youth events at Shooting Range, Vattiyoorkkavu, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from 7th to 17th June 2018 as per the program attached. This trial will be organized and conducted by the NRAI." The KSS Memorial on the other hand was slated to begin from May 30th.