Jamshedpur, Sept. 30: Ace shooter Biswajeet Dutta may miss the national meet, scheduled to be held in New Delhi in December, due to his inability to purchase an imported 4.5mm bore air pistol because of funds paucity.

Officials of the Jamshedpur Rifle Club (JRC) have launched a frantic search for a sponsor to fund the pistol. “I am sure I will not be able to participate in the national meet,” Dutta told The Telegraph.

Dutta was part of an eight-member JRC team which participated in the AV Mavlankar Shooting Championship (pre-nationals) held in Chennai last month.

The experienced shooter put up a fine performance in the 10 metre air pistol event, garnering 357 points of 400 — enough to qualify for the nationals.

Dutta has so far participated in four national events. He won a bronze medal in the air pistol event at the 34th National Shooting Championship held in New Delhi in 1990. He also bagged a silver medal in air rifle event in the 1993 Mavlankar meet.

“Earlier, I used to take part in air rifle events but later switched over to the air pistol shooting,” he added.

“I was able to shoot better because of the imported air pistol which I had borrowed from my colleague. But for that high-tech pistol, I surely wouldn’t have qualified,” he said.

According to Dutta, the cost of the Austrian-made “Spyer” air pistol is Rs 75,000. Only one member of the JRC possesses a Spyer pistol.

JRD secretary Uttam Chand Agarwal said though Dutta had missed the national camp the club was making efforts to buy him the imported air pistol.

“We don’t want Dutta to miss the nationals. We are making serious efforts to find a sponsor who can help us buy the pistol. But so far nothing has materialised. If money is not arranged, Dutta will not participate in the nationals,” he added.

Dutta said he had decided not to attend the national selection camp scheduled in Ahmedabad from October 5-12.

The camp has been organised to select the national team for the world shooting championship to be held in Italy next year. “I am not going to the camp. I don’t have a Spyer pistol,” he added.

Sources said JRC was in the red. “We somehow managed to send the team for the Mavlankar meet. The club is facing financial problems. There is no support from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) as Jharkhand is not an affiliated unit. We are managing activities of the club with great difficulties,” they said.

The JRC team went to the AV Mavlankar meet piggyriding the Asansol Rifle Club, which is an affiliated unit of the West Bengal Rifle Association (WBRA). WBRA is a recognised body of NRAI. Only clubs or state bodies affiliated to the national body are eligible to participate in pre-nationals or national meets, sources in the JRC said.