The Indian shooting team, after more than two months of camp in Croatia, had their first training session at the Asaka Shooting Range here in Tokyo ahead of the Tokyo Olympics 2020. All the shooters went through a four-hour training routine on Monday, after arriving here on July 17.
"Accomodation, food and all COVID protocols are well managed. The venue is a bit far from Olympic village, it took almost an hour to reach here. But as per the information during the competition days, lanes will be reserved for athletes and should take about 30 minutes," said Samaresh Jung, one of the Indian coaches.
The Asaka Shooting Range is situated at Camp Asaka base of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, about 32 kms from the Olympic village. The venue was constructed on the site for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
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With 15 shooters qualified for the Olympics, this is by far the biggest shooting contingent ever in the history of India at the Games. On being asked about the medal expectations, Samaresh said:
"Our focus right now is only on performance. Winning a medal is not in our hands"
The air conditioning in the 10m rifle and pistol hall wasn't working as well as it should be. It was extremely hot in Tokyo, and the shooters were feeling the heat even inside the arena.
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Indian coach Ronak Pandit was spotted pressing chilled water bottles, like ice-packs, to various parts of his body. Talking about the Games, Ronak, an Asian and Commonwealth Games medalist, said:
"If you look at the performance of the last couple of years, the average score has gone significantly up. This is by far the strongest shooting contingent ever. Let's hope everyone brings out the best on the D-day.
With confirmed COVID-19 positive cases in the Olympic Village, the athletes seem to be on their toes.
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"We are strictly following all the SOPs for COVID strictly and no one is interacting without masks. We had more liberty in the Croatia camp but still we had masks everywhere. Our focus hasn't changed and everyone is adhering to all safety measures.", said Deepali Deshpande, high performance coach of the Indian shooting team.
The Indian shooting squad for Tokyo Olympics 2020 comprising Deepak Kumar, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Sanjeev Rajput, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Apurvi Chandela, Elavenil Valarivan, Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant, Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal, and Rahi Sarnobat will be in action from July 24.
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