Raninder is first Indian to be elected international shooting body's vice-president
New Delhi, Dec 1 : Raninder Singh has become the first Indian to be elected one of the four vice-presidents of the International Shooting Sport Federation.
The 51-year-old Raninder also heads the National Rifle Association of India.
The former trap shooter bagged 161 votes to occupy the coveted post, while Kevin Kilty of Ireland received 162 votes, USA's Robert Mitchell got 153 votes and Republic of China's Wang Yifu was re-elected with 146 votes in Munich.
Last year, Raninder was re-elected president of the NRAI for a four-year term with an overwhelming mandate in Mohali.
In 2014, Raninder got 22 out of 25 votes in the General Assembly meeting at Munich, becoming the first from the country to be elected as a member of the global body representing the sport of shooting.
On Friday, the NRAI president was awarded the ISSF diploma of honour gold medal at the general assembly.
He was presented with the diploma and medal by the outgoing longest serving president of the ISSF, Olegario Vazquez Rana, who was at the helm for 38 years.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
