NRAI unveils plans for 75th anniversary celebrations

(Front Row)- Mr. Rajiv Bhatia, Secretary, NRAI (2nd from left), Manu Bhaker, double olympic medalist (3rd from left) & Mr. Pawankumar Singh, Secretary General, NRAI (4th from left) along with national squad and nationa centre of excellence shooters, support staff and NRAI officials, at the ceremonial cake-cutting on the occasion of the 75th Foundation Day of the NRAI at the Dr. Karni Singh Range on Friday (Apr 17, 2026).

Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi: The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the governing body for the Olympic sporMt of Shooting in the country, has unveiled extensive plans for their 75th anniversary celebrations on their foundation day. The celebrations began here at the hallowed Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range (DKSSR) Finals Hall, with a ceremonial cake-cutting in the presence of Mr. Pawankumar Singh, Secretary General, NRAI, Mr. Rajiv Bhatia, Secretary, NRAI, Jitu Rai, Khel Ratna Awardee, Mansher Singh, Arjuna Awardee and Chief Shotgun Coach of Team India and double Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker, besides shooters, coaches and support staff of the national shooting squad and the National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) for shooting sports.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Pawankumar Singh, said, “The NRAI came into being on this day back in 1951 with eminent Freedom Fighter, Parliamentarian and the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Shri. G.V. Mavalankar, as its first President. We feel very proud that several Freedom Fighters such as former Prime Minister Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Shri. G.B. Pant, the first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Shri. Yashwantrao Chavan, the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra, were among the first pillars of this institution. Shooting shines brightest today in winning medals for the country and it makes us even happier that we are being able to take forward their legacy in a way that honours their ideals and their blessings.”

(L-R)- Manu Bhaker, Jitu Rai & Mr. Pawankumar Singh cutting the cake on the occassion of the 75th Foundation day of the NRAI at the Karni Singh Range on Friday (Apr 17, 2026).

Providing details of the celebrations planned in the coming days, Mr. Singh said, “We have year-long celebrations planned. To begin with we have set a target of introducing 7.5 lac (7,50,000) new school students to Shooting, where we will either visit their schools of call them to the nearest range and make them shoot 10-shots each. We will take the help of the Government, the Ministry of Sports as well as all the Shooting Academies and even Local Shooting Clubs across the cities and districts of the country in order to achieve this goal. This will help unearth new natural talent. Apart from this we plan to felicitate all the Arjuna, Khel Ratna, Dronacharya awardees and Olympic medalists in Shooting during the National Championships, as well as the State Awardees during the State Championships. Finally, during the ISSF World Cup Olympic quota event next year in Delhi, we plan to host an exhibition match between our Olympic medalists past and present.”

Shooting Sport is one of India’s most successful Olympic sports with a tally of one gold, two silver and four bronze medals won over the years. Abhinav Bindra, also won India’s first individual Olympic gold at the Beijing 2008 Olympics winning the men’s 10m air rifle event. In the most recent Paris 2024 Olympics, half of India’s six medals came from Shooting, with Manu Bhaker returning with two bronze medals.

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