India’s teenage world champion rifle shooter Rudrankksh Patil is not sure when will he receive the biggest pay cheque of his fledgling career — 15,000 euros (Rs 13.25 lakhs approx) for winning the prestigious President’s Cup — due to a change of guard at the international shooting federation.
The ISSF President’s Cup featured the 12 top athletes in each individual Olympic event as per the 2022 world rankings and offered a total sum of 792,000 euros this year. Each of the disciplines offered 66,000 euros prize money, with the winner earning 15,000 euro.
World No.1 Rudrankksh defeated Danilo Sollazzo of Italy in the men’s 10m air rifle final of the year-ending ISSF President’s Cup 2022 in Cairo on December 3 to be eligible for the top prize.
However, the 19-year-old has not yet received the sum as the former Russian head of the world shooting body ISSF, Vladimir Lisin, has reportedly failed to fulfil his financial commitment after he was voted out as the global body’s head.
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Another Indian shooter Anjum Moudgil had won a silver in the 50m rifle 3 Positions event and was to get 7500 euros.
Rudrankksh’s father Balasahab Patil told PTI on Friday that things look “uncertain” as of now.
“They (ISSF) declared the prize money and now they are delaying it. It is not right but what can we say,” said the senior Patil, an IPS officer residing in Thane, Maharashtra.
It is being reported that the new dispensation under Italian Luciano Rossi will try everything within its means to fulfil the commitment.
“The earlier president of the ISSF (Lisin) was sponsoring the prize money. Then there were the elections and he got replaced. Because of which all the sponsors cancelled the sponsorship. I hope they (ISSF) are able to honour the commitment in a month or two, but for now there is uncertainty” added Patil.
Lisin was under pressure to quit due to his proximity with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the wake of Ukraine’s invasion but one of the richest persons in Russia had support of several small countries and his exit was blocked.
Eventually, he lost election to Rossi in early this month.
The senior Patil, however, added Rudrankksh’s training remains unaffected.
“He has been successful from such a young age because of his temperament. He doesn’t leave anything unfinished unless he achieves the highest level. His (Rudrankksh’s) level of determination is really high.
“He goes into a trance when he is competing or is in training. When he started out his only goal was to excel in the Olympics. He started in 2016 and turned 19 today. On the day he started training (as a 13-year-old), his only aim is to excel in the Olympics.”
Rudrankksh came into the spotlight after competing with the top names, including reigning Olympic champion from the USA, William Shaner, in several online competitions organised by former international shooter Shimon Sharif during the Covid-enforced lockdown.
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