Jitu Rai expressed his appreciation of the women archers getting the Olympic quota.
As the first Indian shooter to book the quota for Rio with a silver medal in free pistol in the world championship in Granada, last year, Jitu was quite comfortably placed. As an outstanding shooter who has been winning a medal in almost all levels, Jitu has also been ahead of the pack in air pistol and free pistol.
However, it is glaring that Indian shooting has managed to acquire only five quota places so far from seven competitions, as the shooters readied themselves to leave for the last World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan, on Wednesday.
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Abhinav Bindra, the 2008 Olympic gold medallist, had won the quota place in air rifle in the last World Cup in Munich. London Games bronze medallist Gagan Narang had also won an Olympic berth earlier, albeit in the 50-metre rifle prone event, and not in his favourite air rifle.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Apurvi Chandela had won the Olympic quota in air rifle, while rapid fire specialist Gurpreet Singh ended up winning the air pistol quota. Pooja Ghatkar and Ayonika Paul will attempt to join Apurvi by acquiring the second quota place in women’s air rifle.
Vijay Kumar’s travailsADVERTISEMENT
Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar has been unable to win a quota place and has been struggling with his scores so much that he could not be selected in the regular team, owing to the high standards set by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
As one of the top three in the rapid fire pistol in the country, Vijay has been able to make the team with the financial support of the army, and has recently been training in Germany to be at his best, after a mental toughness stint with Lanny Bassham in the US.
Chief pistol coach Mohinder Lal said that Pemba Tamang, a specialist rapid fire pistol shooter, had also been added to the list.
Like Vijay, some of the other leading shooters like Heena Sidhu, Rahi Sarnobat, Chain Singh and Gurpreet have also been training abroad, and will fly straight into Azerbaijan for the World Cup.
Sanjeev Rajput will only be competing in the MQS section. He may have to wait for the Asian championship to get a chance to secure an Olympic quota. Annu Raj Singh gets to shoot only the 25-metre sports pistol event. Women air pistol shooters like Shweta Singh, Malaika Goel and Harveen Srao have been pipped by Shri Nivetha and Yashaswini Deswal in the team.
The first two have opted to shoot MQS.
Manavjit Singh Sandhu will be looking to nail the quota place in trap after having missed it agonisingly, despite a bronze medal in the Acapulco World Cup.
Asian Games gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi, an accomplished marksman in double trap, has not made the team, but will get his chance in the Asian championship for which he has made the cut.
Mohd. Asab and Ankur Mittal would be the best bets in double trap in the absence of Ronjan.
After the last World Cup which features pistol, rifle and shotgun in Azerbaijan, there will be the shotgun world championship offering Olympic quota place, before the Asian championship in November.