Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
President of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Raninder Singh has expressed confidence of good showing by country’s shooter in the World Cup Rifle/Pistol to be held at Karni Singh Shooting Range here from 20 to 28th February.
The world cup, assumes significance, as 16 Tokyo 2020 Olympics quotas are up for grabs in eight of the 10 scheduled medal events.
“We have a top fighting fit squad and a good mix of senior shooters and young turks, who have proved their mettle time and again in world class international competitions.” NRAI chief told media persons in presence of 10 out of the 23 members of the Indian team
“ I am confident of a good showing and we look to bag the maximum number of quotas possible. We have a top fighting fit squad and a good mix of senior shooters and young turks, who have proved their mettle time and again in world class international competitions. I am confident of a good showing and we look to bag the maximum number of quotas possible,”
The shooters present were Apurvi Chandela (Women’s 10m Air Rifle & Mixed Team), Ravi Kumar (Men’s 10m Air Rifle & Mixed Team), Sanjeev Rajput (Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions), Rahi Sarnobat (Women’s 25m Pistol), Abhishek Verma (Men’s 10m Air Pistol), Saurabh Chaudhary (Men’s 10m Air Pistol & Mixed Team), Tejaswini Sawant (Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions), Anjum Moudgil (Women’s 10m Air Rifle), Deepak Kumar (Men’s 10m Air Rifle) and Adarsh Singh (Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol).
Hosts India will be fielding a 34-member squad, including 11 in the non-competition Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) category.
In all, 495 athletes from 58 nations will be converging in Delhi when competitions begin in right earnest with the first final slated for February 23, 2019.
A slew of top athletes of the sport including legends, reigning and former Olympic Champions, World Champions, Asian Games Champions, Commonwealth Games Champions and World Cup winners will enthrall fans of top quality Olympic sporting action.
Only the two Mixed Team events, one each in Air Rifle and Air Pistol, out of the 10 events will have no quotas on offer.
India have already bagged their maximum share of two country quotas in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle competition through Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela in the ISSF World Championship in Changwon last year. As such, these athletes will not be eligible for quotas, however that does not stop them from winning a coveted World Cup medal.
India, therefore, will look to bag the maximum possible from the 14 quotas in seven events that they are eligible to win quotas in.