Mohali (Punjab) [India], December 4 (ANI): Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo began his first full four-year term as National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) President, after the results of the NRAI office-bearer elections were officially declared on Thursday at the Park Plaza hotel in Mohali, during the meeting of the General Body.

The elections were conducted under the aegis of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur (Retd), who was the Returning Officer (RO). Shri. Singh Deo was elected unopposed, and so was the new Secretary General, Pawan Singh, one of India's most respected Shooting administrators and a technical expert. The elections also put in place a new Executive Committee and a new Governing Body, the highest decision-making body of the National Federation.

Sharing his first reactions, Deo stated, as per an NRAI press release, 'Indian Shooting has currently seen its most successful phase in history over the last couple of years, both in terms of success and popularity and that increases our responsibilities manifold. I wholeheartedly thank the entire General Body for restoring faith in me and my team, and we promise to leave no stone unturned to accelerate this growth momentum even further and to maximise the potential that our extremely talented Shooting athletes possess. With the Flag paramount in our thoughts, let us all work together to make India number one in the world in our beloved sport.'

Also sharing his priorities as Secretary General, Pawan Singh said, 'All the functions in the NRAI are already online, from registration to results, and now the next step is to use technology efficiently. We want to leverage AI and performance data to identify talented shooters across the country. My focus will be on using technology to find and nurture promising athletes from every corner of India. We also want to train coaches and shooters for coaching so that they have an alternate career when they retire and can earn from the sport they have invested their life in.'

In the two electoral contests which took place, Shri. Amit Sanghi from Telangana was elected as the Senior Vice President of the Governing Body while Shri. Kanwar Sultan Singh and Sushma Singh were elected Vice-Presidents in the 15-member Executive Committee (EC). The four sports persons in the EC will be Olympic bronze medalist Shri. Gagan Narang, Kunti Malik, Zorawar Singh Sandhu and Elavenil Valarivan respectively. (ANI)