CWG medallist Apurvi Chandela gets nod to represent DU at world varsity games

NEW DELHI: Commonwealth Games gold medallist shooter Apurvi Chandela, who was earlier dropped from list of students representing DU at World University Games for not attending the trials, has finally got a nod for the global event to be held next month in South Korea.

Apurvi, 22, who was out of India for last two months taking part in different tournaments at Shooting World Cup, was unable to attend the trials for Universade held in Punjabi University in Patiala last month, following which her nomination to attend the event was cancelled by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

Delhi University had raised the issue with AIU, arguing that Apurvi's nomination should be considered on grounds of merit and that she be exempted from trials considering that she won gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and has qualified for the Rio Olympics.

"We had written to the AIU seeking exemption from trials for Apurvi Chandela as she was currently participating in different shooting tournaments in Germany and US when the trials took place," said Dr Anil Kalkal, Secretary of DU's Sports Council.

"The association finally reconsidered the decision and gave her a green signal this week. Now, 13 DU students will participate in the games," he added.

World University Games (Universiade-2015) are slated to be held in Gwangju City of South Korea next month.

Apurvi is a student of Sociology (Hons) at DU's Jesus and Mary College.

World University Games are organised by the International University Sports Federation every two years and are considered to be one of the largest multi-sports event in the world.

Besides Apurvi, nine more DU students will participate in shooting events including 25 metres sports pistol ( women), air pistol (women) and air rifle (women).

"While ten have been selected for shooting, one has been chosen for Judo, one for tennis and one for the athletics events," said C S Dubey, Chairman of DU Sports Council.