Commonwealth Games Delhi India 2010 Commonwealth Games India

The men's hockey team showed the way a few weeks ago and the women followed in their footsteps. Now, the shooters have got officialdom in their sights and are proving that where there is a will, there is indeed a way

The latest message, this time to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), comes from six top pistol shooters who've hired a foreign coach to train them at the national camp.

With NRAI unable to recruit a coach to replace Hungarian Czaba Gyorik who left after the Beijing Olympics, the shooters have availed of the services of a top coach, with each spending around Rs 50,000 a month.

"How long should we wait? The authorities can take their own time but the competition dates won't change. Now, we're spending from our pockets to pay renowned coach Anatoli Poddubni of Ukraine for his expertise," Samaresh Jung, nicknamed 'Goldfinger' for his medal haul in the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, told TOI.

The England’s Commonwealth Games officials dismissed any reports on Wednesday that England are all set to pull out of 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The London officials said that no such move is planned in them and a team from England will definitely travel to India for participation.

A report in The Daily Telegraph (Egland) on Tuesday claimed that “England is poised to pull out of next year’s Commonwealth Games over fears that athletes will be victims of a terrorist attack.”

The newspaper report also claimed that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson visited New Delhi this month for inspecting the Games sites and he was said to have voiced “serious concerns” about the security arrangements for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.