Raninder Singh was elected president of the National Rifle Association of India after the trap shooter's landslide victory over Shyam Singh Yadav at the NRAI house in New Delhi on Wednesday.
During the governing body meeting of the shooting federation, 21 members voted in favour of Singh as against Yadav's five votes.
In what turned out to be a completely one-sided affair, even Singh voted for his opponent Yadav instead of himself, NRAI sources said.
The 43-year-old Singh, who represents Punjab in NRAI's governing body, is an active trap shooter and has also participated in ISSF World Cups and National Championships.
"It's a win by a thumping majority and that was expected. He (Singh) is the right choice as he has the ability to lead the federation from the front," a source said.
"He can guide the federation at a time when we are going through a transition phase. It is actually a very critical phase for Indian shooting. The shooters are winning a lot of medals at international events and the job now is to carry on the good work," the source added.
Vice-president Avtar Singh Sethi was serving as interim chief of NRAI ever since the late Digvijay Singh stepped down following a Supreme Court directive just before the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in February.
Following the Supreme Court's directive to the NRAI to go back to the Delhi High Court on the issue of its office-bearers holding more than two terms in office, the federation had named Sethi as the interim president.
While Singh and Yadav were always the front-runners for the top post, sources in the NRAI had earlier claimed that, besides the two, there were three to four other members who were also vying for the post.
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