National Rifle Association of India's (NRAI) secretary Baljit Sethi revealed that the application to stage the World Cup in New Delhi had been withdrawn.
 

He said: "We've decided against hosting the World Cup as it no longer offered any Olympic qualification spot."
 

The International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF) said in a statement that no Olympic spots would be on offer at the March event due to a directive from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that spots should be offered no sooner than two years ahead of the 2012 Olympics.
 

The first shooting event to offer Olympic qualification will be the 2010 World Championships in Germany from July 29-August 11.
 

The ISSF said it would now evaluate other locations for the 2010 World Cup stage in pistol and rifle events.
 

The New Delhi event had been scheduled at a venue being built for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Shooting officials have been pushing Commonwealth Games organisers to deliver the venue by December 31 to enable them make arrangements for the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in February.
 

On Wednesday, NRAI president Digvijay Singh expressed "great concern" at the slow construction of the venue.
 

Singh said its was mandatory for the Commonwealth Championships to be staged one year before the Commonwealth Games at the same venue.
 

The Championship had already been rescheduled from 2008.


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