Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar will attempt to regain his confident trigger in rapid fire pistol when he opens competition in the 18th Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship here on Wednesday.
It has been a struggle for Vijay, who has been out of the National squad in recent times, as he has not been able to reach even the ‘Minimum Travel Score’ of 579. In fact, Vijay had shot 566 and 567 in the last two trials. His attempt to revive fortunes by competing in the MQS section of the Munich World Cup did not fructify, as his pistol box was misplaced by the airlines when he reached Munich. Anish Bhanwala and Neeraj Kumar will also be in the fray.
That the World Championship team can have only 10 shooters in all for five of men’s pistol events, would make it difficult for the fringe shooters to make the cut.
Along with the 25m rapid fire pistol, competition will open in the men’s 10-metre air rifle, which will feature junior and youth sections.
There will be about 600 shooters, which has forced the organisers to arrange eight relays of 70-odd participants each, and hold the air rifle finals on Thursday.
