Women first. The courteous remark will be put into action on Saturday when Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul open India’s campaign in shooting at the Deodoro Range, a military base.
The 10m women’s air rifle traditionally offers the first medals in the Olympics and the final is scheduled at 7 p.m. IST.
Both Apurvi and Ayonika, who have done very well in their young shooting career, are poised to strike their best.
Apurvi, a World Cup Final silver medallist and one of the four Indian shooters to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, has been trained by the seasoned Stanislas Lapidus. Ayonika has benefited from the expertise of the Olympic finalist and former World record holder Suma Shirur.
On Saturday afternoon, it will be Jitu Rai and Gurpreet Singh in air pistol. Jitu, a man with the golden arm, has insisted that he was aiming for the gold in the Olympics. He is simple and shoots straight.
Impressive achievementsHis accomplishments in the last three years have been convincing — World Championship silver medal, Gold at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games to go along with a clutch of medals, including gold, in the World Cups. However, Jitu is stronger in the 50m free pistol, an event in which he will start shooting on August 10.
Gurpreet is an expert in the rapid fire pistol event, where Vijay Kumar took silver at London. But, the fact remains that Gurpreet won his Olympic quota in air pistol. It is time for him to assert his versatility in the two contrasting events.
The competition will be intense but the Indians are familiar with such an environment. They have been world class and have to shoot like what they have done in the past to emulate the achievements of the big guns. They have been world class and have to show that when the world is watching. Not an easy task!
After the opening day’s action, Heena Sidhu, the world record holder in women’s air pistol, will be in action on Sunday, even as former World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai go through the first part of the qualification stage in trap.
And with Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang set to train their sight on the air rifle medals on Monday, there is a lot of action straightaway as India hopes to launch its campaign with steely determination that has been strengthened by strenuous preparation.
More chancesShooting will continue till August 14, ending with the rigorous men’s rifle 3-position event. Gagan Narang, who willingly took up the responsibility to shoot three events, has more chances than anyone else from the country to strike a medal!
In fact, 12 Indians have given themselves 18 chances to win medals and there is a lot more faith on them to deliver on the big stage. Traditional power-house China, the US and a whole lot of other countries will gun for the medals, as 390 shooters attempt to share 45 medals among themselves.
Among the stars, Vincent Hancock (skeet) of the US, Korea’s Jin Jongoh (free pistol) and Guo Wenjun (women’s air pistol) of China will attempt to join Ralf Schumann (rapid fire pistol) of Germany in winning three gold medals in the same event.
