The 33-year-old has already earned a quota place at the Olympics, thanks to his performance at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Munich in May.

He has now opted to miss the Olympic qualifier, due  to take place from January 25 to February 3 in New Dehli, with the reigning Commonwealth Games champion hopeful that his absence with boost the chances of one of his compatriots to earn a berth.

"My absence will give others a chance to win an Olympic quota for India,” Bindra told dnaindia.com.

“I’m also not shooting in the Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) category as it makes no sense to me.”

In addition to Bindra, his fellow Indian qualifiers for Rio 2016 Apurvi Chandela and Mairaj Khan are also set to miss the event, as well as South Korea’s Jong Oh Jin, the reigning Olympic and world champion in the 10m air pistol and 50m pistol events. 

Competition is scheduled to be held at the Dr Karni Singh shooting ranges in Tughlakabad, close to the capital city.

A total of 35 Rio 2016 Olympic Quota Places will be distributed across rifle, pistol and shotgun events in India.

New Delhi was confirmed at the host of the competition after the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to withdraw their recognition of the Asian Championships in Kuwait City in November.

It came just days after Kuwait's suspension from the IOC after the passing of a deadline for changes to be made to a Government law which supposedly threatened the independence of sporting institutions.

In a "direct violation of the non-discrimination principle of the Olympic Charter which must apply for all Olympic qualification competitions", designated ISSF technical delegate, Yair Davidovich of Israel, was also reportedly denied a visa by the Kuwaiti Immigration Department.

The decision was heavily criticised by the Asian Shooting Confederation, who had hoped quota places would still be retrospectively awarded for performances achieved in Kuwait City.