Ravi Kumar of Indian Air Force made the national air rifle team for the sixth Asian Air Gun shooting championship to be held in Tehran, Iran, from October 20 to 25, on the weight of his victories in the Kumar Surendra Singh and the Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Masters competitions recently.
He kept up the good work in the two selection trials as well to be selected in the second place behind the reigning Asian champion Abhinav Bindra.
Sanjeev Rajput pushed all the other air rifle specialists aside to make the team. Gagan Narang had stayed away owing to a leg injury.
The championship — originally restricted to 10m events — will also feature the 25m and 50m pistol and rifle competitions.
Harpreet Singh, who handed a rare defeat to Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar in the rapid fire pistol in one of the trials, failed to secure a berth in the event, but managed to find a place in standard pistol.
In women’s air pistol, Heena Sidhu, Shweta Chaudhary and Annu Raj Singh made the cut, while Malaika Goel, who had the second best average, was pushed to the junior team.
There will also be competition at the youth level, giving the youngsters a good exposure.
Harveen Srao and Albha Oberoi missed out.
In women’s air rifle, the young Anjum Moudgil was pushed to the junior squad, despite securing a top-3 average among the women.
P.N. Prakash, the bronze medallist in the World Cup in Korea who could not compete anywhere after the Munich World Cup owing to ill health, was drafted into both the air pistol and free pistol teams.
The team: Men: Rifle 3P: Sanjeev Rajput, Satyendra Singh, Surendra Singh Rathod. Rifle prone: Sushil Ghaley, Sanjeev Rajput, Satyendra Singh. Air rifle: Abhinav Bindra, Ravi Kumar, Sanjeev Rajput. Rapid fire pistol: Vijay Kumar, Gurpreet Singh, Mahendar Singh. Centre fire pistol: Pemba Tamang, Samaresh Jung, Gurpreet Singh. Standard pistol: Gurpreet Singh, Samaresh Jung, Harpreet Singh. Free pistol: Jitu Rai, P.N. Prakash, Om Prakash. Air pistol: Amit Kumar Pilaniya, Jitu Rai, P.N. Prakash.
Women: Rifle 3P: Lajja Gauswami, Raj Chaudhary, Meena Kumari. Rifle prone: Lajja Gauswami, Meena Kumar, Raj Chaudhary. Air rifle: Ayonika Paul, Apurvi Chandela, Pooja Ghatkar. Sports Pistol: Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed, Surabhi Pathak. Air pistol: Heena Sidhu, Shweta Chaudhary, Annu Raj Singh.
