Some of the best Indian shooters, former World champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu, world record holder Heena Sidhu and the Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar will attempt to give the host a good start in the Asia Olympic qualifying competition at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Wednesday.
With 35 Olympic quota places for Rio on offer, India has understandably been eyeing many of them in the 15 events.
Manavjit and Vijay will go through part of the qualification process on the first day, while the fate of Heena along with that of Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Shweta Singh will be known on the opening day, in women’s air pistol.
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In men’s rifle prone event, in which Gagan Narang has already won a quota, the challenge will be for the young Swapnil Kusale along with Surendra Sinh Rathod and Sushil Ghalay to win one more. A country can win only two quota places per event.
In women’s trap also, it will be a challenge for Olympian Shagun Chowdhary, Shreyasi Singh and Rajeshwari Kumari to get the solitary quota place on offer in a strong field of 31 shooters from 12 countries.
It is difficult to put a number to the quota places that India may win from this championship, which has been presented as a replacement event for the Asian Championship that was supposed to offer the quotas in Kuwait in November, before the IOC revoked the status.
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The Prince of Bhutan, Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck, was the guest of honour and the Union Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit Singh, a former national champion in skeet, declared the championship open.
The president of the ISSF, Olegario Vazquez Rana of Mexico, stressed the importance of India and Asia in the world of shooting, as he explained the circumstances that brought the event to India. Vijay Kumar took the oath on behalf of the athletes, and the former National coach, Prof. Sunny Thomas, took the oath on behalf of the officials, as they flanked the ISSF president.